Politics and Government in Eastern Europe

Why are some post-communist countries more politically and economically successful than others? What underlies the many conflicts in this region? What can happen in the future? What can we learn from the East European experience? This course is designed to help you answer these and similar questions. In one semester it will not be possible to cover all countries and all periods equally. Since this is a course on contemporary Eastern Europe, the bulk of the course will focus on the 20th century. However, to understand these societies it is necessary to know some of their history, so we will also spend time surveying the past 1,000 years. We will concentrate mainly on the former Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, but make frequent reference to Bulgaria, Romania, and other countries. We will spend comparatively little time on Russia, other former Soviet Republics, or the recent Yugoslav wars.