Syllabus
* Mandatory:
ARENDT, H., The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York - London: Harcourt, Brace & Co, 1994 (selected chapters).
ASH, Timothy Garton: We the People: The Revolution of ’89, Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague. Cambridge, 1990.
* Recommended:
KENNEY, Patrick: The Burdens of Freedom. London: Zed Books. 2006.
KUKRAL, Michael Andrew: Prague 1989: Theater of Revolution. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
ROBERTS, Adam: Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press. 2009.
WEIGEL, George: The Final Revolution: The Resistance Church and the Collapse of Communism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1992.
Annotation
The aim of the course is to provide students with a comprehensive idea of anti-regime movements in Central and Eastern European countries. In the beginning, everyone will be acquainted with the main concepts of life under socialism. The lectures will focus on specific states and their anti-regime movements from their inception to individual clashes with the regime. In the second part of the lecture, you will learn what role have the individual movements played in the road towards revolution. At the end of the course, there will also be a look back at the last days of socialism in each country and at their subsequent progression. Weekly Schedule:
1) Introduction to the course and basic concepts
2) Poland and beginning of dissident movement
3) Hungary and beginning of dissident movement
4) Czechoslovakia and beginning of dissident movement
5) Eastern Germany, Ukraine and Slovenia and beginning of dissident movement
6) Poland – Walesa and roundtable
7) Hungary – Nagymaros and other groups
8) Czechoslovakia – Velvet revolution
9) Eastern Germany, Ukraine, and Slovenia – First steps toward the future
10) The Fall of Berlin Wall
11) Aftermath of revolution
12) Debate and video material
13) Colloquium