Sylabus
Weekly structure of the course: 1st week
The introduction to the course is very much about terminological problems. From book to book and from article to article any student of the above-mentioned topics is confronted with inconsistent usage of geographic, political and ideological terms and concepts: e.g. East and Central Europe, European integration, Czech and Bohemian, totalitarian, communist or socialist, Austrian, German or German-speaking etc. Each term has one or more connotations and should be used adequately.
Different definitions of Central European space. This course will deal with major turning points in the modern political history (XX. century) of five Central European states: Czech republic, Slovak republic, Poland, Austria, Hungary.
Reading: Čornej,P.-Pokorný,J.: A brief History of the Czech Lands. Praha, 2003 2nd week
Basic data (political maps, demography, religions, nations and nationalities, languages, etc.) of Central European countries.
Reading: Statistics prepared by the lecturer. 3rd week
Central European countries in the process of European integration in XX. century.
Reading: Documents prepared by the lecturer. 4th week
The World War I and the collapse of Empires. The new states in Central Europe.
The political history of Czechoslovakia 1918 - 1945.
Reading: Krejčí, Jaroslav
"Czechoslovakia at the Crossroads of European History" London, 1990 (selected pages) 5th week
The political history of Czechoslovakia 1945 - 2010.
Reading: Krejčí, Jaroslav
"Czechoslovakia at the Crossroads of European History" London, N.Y., 1990 pp. 172 - 202 6th week
The political history of Poland.
Midterm test
Reading: Ash, Timothy Garton, "History of the Present", The Penguin Press, GB, 1999 (selected pages) 7th week
The political history of Austria and Hungary.
Evaluation of the midterm test. Selection of the final topic.
Reading: The selected texts will be prepared by the lecturer 8th week
Convergent and divergent developments in Central European space after 1918.
General discussion.
Reading: Wandycz, Piotr S. "The Price of Freedom" London, N.Y., 1993 (selected pages) 9th week
The democratic revolutions 1989 in Central Europe. Constitutional, political, economic and cultural changes. The economic transformation in former communist countries.
Reading: Wheaton, Bernard - Kavan, Zdeněk "The Velvet Revolution" Boulder, San Francisco, Oxford, 1992 (selected pages) 10th week
The constitution as an expression of political philosophy of the respective country: the constitutions of the Czech and Slovak republics. Poland, Austria and Hungary.
Reading: The Czech Constitution. The Slovak Constitution.
The Polish Constitution. The Austrian Constitution. The Hungarian Constitution.
(The abbreviated texts will be prepared by the professor ). 11th week
Five years of the membership of Central European states in the European Union. The developments from May 2004 till spring 2010.
Final written exam. 12th week
Presentation of the final papers.
Evaluation of the course.
Anotace
This course is meant for students with different academic backgrounds but strong interest in Central European developments during and after the democratic revolutions 1989. To understand Central European developments since 1989 it is necessary - according to our many years´ teaching experience - to get acquainted with main turning points of political history of respective countries of Central European geopolitical space on one hand and to undertake some comparative research into similarities and differences of such developments on the other hand.
The central part of the course will focus on the political developments after 1918 in both Czechoslovakia and neighbouring Central European countries (Versailles conference, 1920s and 1930s, WWII, the divided Europe, the character of the Communist regimes). Lectures and discussions will especially focus on the democratic revolutions 1989, the institutional and international framework of the transition process and specific problems of democratization in Central Europe. Continuous attention will be dedicated to political elections in Central European countries.( European elections in June 2009, upcoming general elections in the Czech republic, presidential elections in Poland etc.).