Sylabus
Topic
Presentation 06.10.2023
Introduction to the course, Basic outline 20.10.2023
War legacies. Is war an economic disaster or it is some opportunity? Why did the countries in the East end in the communist bloc and the Western countries did not? Why the countries grow so quickly? Was planning unique only for Central and Eastern Europe? 1. War legacies. 2.communist propaganda vs. reality
Holly Case, Reconstruction in East-Central Europe: Clearing the Rubble of Cold War Politics, Past and Present, 2011, supplement. 03.11.2023
The autarkic model of an economy: What was the logic in it? Why the Soviet Union pushed for higher industrialization in the Eastern countries. Were the regimes imposed by Soviets? Was there any economic rationale in the autarky? Did the external environment play some role in centrally planned economies? 1. political trials 2. First protests (Berlin or Pilsen...) 1. Ludwig von Mises, Economic calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth, http://mises.org/pdf/econcalc.pdf 10.11.2023
Real existing socialism "goulash" socialism as a system 1. Reforms in the socialist economies - squaring a circle? (choose one) 2. socialist consumerism (consumer goods) 1. Korbonski - The Politics of Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe: The Last Thirty Years. Soviet Studies, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Jan., 1989), pp. 1-19 24.11.2023
Cooperation inside the Bloc: CMEA as a framework for cooperation or an arena of clashes? Did the Soviet Union subsidize Central Europeans? Why Soviets did that then? 1. CMEA as an organization 2. Contacts with the West 1. Michael Marresse, CMEA: Effective but cumbersome political economy 01.12.2023
The crisis of the system and the fall of communism in Europe. Final stage of the system. What happened to the planned economies of Eastern Europe? Did perestroika cause the fall? How the countries pursued their own perestroikas, 1. Perestroika in the CEE countries 2. collapse of the socialist enterprises 1. Laszlo Csaba, CMEA and the challenge of the 1980s 08.12.2023
Transformations in CEE: Complete changes of the functioning of the political-economic systems. Why do some countries adopt hasty transformations while others follow a gradual path? Was the transformational recession really so deep? 1. ideological debate on transformation 2. Communist parties during transformations 1. Kornai, The Great transformation of central Europe, Success, and disappointment, Economics of Transition, Volume 14, 2006, 207-244 15.12.2023
Privatizations and the problem of the growth of negative tendencies (crime etc.), inequality 1. voucher Privatiuzation 2. Oligarchy 1. Anders Aslund. Building Capitalism (chapter on privatization) 22.12.2023
The Financial Crisis and Central Europe
Financial crisis in central Europe (eurosceptics and eurosupporters) 05.01.2024
Illiberal capitalism? Recent turn from liberal approaches in Central Europe
Populism in CEE 2. V4 group
Anotace
The course offers an introduction to economic development in Central and Eastern Europe. It covers the time range of 1945-2010 (or, more precisely, from the end of WWII to the World Financial Crisis).
Its main aim is to explore the political economy of the area, divergencies, and convergencies in the countries' developments. It should not be a history of the region but an explanation of the functioning of the political economy in the example of the aforementioned area.
Territorially, it deals with the East-Central European countries, excluding former Yugoslavia (the country will be covered only to the extent of its interaction with other socialist countries. The course applies general concepts to the reality of Central and Eastern Europe.
Thematically, the course is divided into two parts, with the relations and conditions within the socialist bloc being the first part and the post-socialist reality as the second. The course should give the students the ability to approach the affairs in Central Europe in their complexity and critically evaluate the differences and common points of the countries within the region.