GLCb1003 Central Europe: Politics and Society

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2022
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Michal Pink, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Csaba Szaló, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Michal Pink, Ph.D.
Department of Political Science – Faculty of Social Studies
Supplier department: Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies (49,00 %), Department of Political Science – Faculty of Social Studies (51,00 %)
Timetable
Thu 15. 9. 14:00–17:40 U44, Thu 13. 10. 14:00–17:40 U44, Thu 20. 10. 14:00–17:40 U44, Thu 3. 11. 14:00–17:40 U44, Thu 10. 11. 14:00–17:40 U44, Thu 24. 11. 14:00–17:40 U44, Thu 1. 12. 14:00–17:40 U44
Prerequisites
none
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Politics and Society is basic course focused on introduction to modern politics based on the rules of society in Central and East European context.
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course, the students will be able to identify and uderstand the interconnection between politics and society. They will be able to define modern politics based on the rules of society in Central and East European context.
Syllabus
  • 1. Czech politics and modern trends
  • Reading:
  • Mansfeldová, Zdenka. 2006 The Czech Republic: critical democrats and the persistence of democratic values. In Klingemann, Hans-Dieter and Fuchs, Dieter and Zielonka, Jan. Democracy and Political Culture in Eastern Europe. Routledge, London and New York 2006. PP. 101 – 118.
  • HEJTMÁNEK, Jan and PINK, Michal. Basic Spatial Patterns of Electoral Support in the 2013 Czech Presidential Election. European Electoral Studies, Brno: Katedra politologie, 2015, roč. 9, č. 2, s. 84 - 99. ISSN 1801-6545.
  • 2. Slovakia – Young national state
  • Reading:
  • Mihálikova, Silvia. 2006. Slovakia: pathways to a democratic community. In Klingemann, Hans-Dieter and Fuchs, Dieter and Zielonka, Jan. Democracy and Political Culture in Eastern Europe. Routledge, London and New York 2006. PP. 172 – 202.
  • PINK, Michal. The 2010 Slovak Elections in the Light of Previous Results. Evropská volební studia, Brno: Institut pro srovnávací politologický výzkum, 2011, Vol. 6, č. 1, s. 3 - 21. ISSN 1801-6545.
  • 3. Poland – How state formation process influence modern politics
  • Reading:
  • Siemienska, Renata. 2006. Poland: citizens and democratic community. In: Klingemann, Hans-Dieter and Fuchs, Dieter and Zielonka, Jan. Democracy and Political Culture in Eastern Europe. Routledge, London and New York 2006. PP. 172 – 202. Pp 172 – 234.
  • Zarycki, Tomasz. 2015. The electoral geography of Poland: between stable spatial structures and their changing interpretations. Erdkunde, Vol. 69/2. Pp: 107-124
  • 4. Hungary – Modernisation of agrarian society
  • Reading:
  • Haerpfer, W., Christian. 2006. Hungary: structure and dynamics of democratic consolidation. In: Klingemann, Hans-Dieter and Fuchs, Dieter and Zielonka, Jan. Democracy and Political Culture in Eastern Europe. Routledge, London and New York 2006. PP. 172 – 202. Pp 172 – 234. Pp. 148 – 171.
  • 5. Austria – Central Europe without nondemocratic regime
  • Reading:
  • Bischof, Gunter and Plasser, Fritz. 2008. The changing Austrian Voter. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick.
  • 6. Germany – Real Federal country
  • Reading:
  • Baars, Roger and Schlottmann, Antje. Spatial Multidimensionalities in the Politics of Regions: Constituting the ‘Phantom Region’ of Central Germany. Erdkunde, Vol. 69/2. Pp: 175-186
  • 7. Reading week
  • 8. Germany – Nostalgia, ostalgie and the cultural politics of remembering
  • Reading: Boyer, Dominic. 2006. “Ostalgie and the Politics of Future in Eastern Germany.” Public Culture 18(2): 361–81. Fritzsche, Peter. 2016. An Iron Wind: Europe under Hitler. New York: Basic Books. pp. xi-22
  • 9. Austria – Cultural contradictions of centralisation and modernisation
  • Reading:
  • Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp.333-454.
  • 10. Hungary – Nationalism and the identity politics of cultural traumas
  • Reading:
  • Dányi, Endre. 2013. “Democracy in Ruins: The Case of the Hungarian Parliament.” Pp. 55–78 in The Inhabited Ruins of Central Europe: Re-imagining Space, History, and Memory, edited by D. Sayer and D. Gafijczuk. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • 11. Poland – Cultural heritage(s): the tragic discourses of resettlement, expulsion and genocide
  • Reading:
  • Thum, Gregor. 2017. Uprooted: How Breslau Became Wroclaw during the Century of Expulsions. pp: xiii-104.
  • 12. Slovakia – State building between national myths and the ethics of dissent
  • Reading:
  • Beasley-Murray, Tim. 2013. “Ruins and Representations of 1989: Exception, Normality, Revolution.” Pp. 16–39 in The Inhabited Ruins of Central Europe: Re-imagining Space, History, and Memory, edited by D. Sayer and D. Gafijczuk. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Blokker, Paul. 2013. “The Ruins of a Myth or a Myth in Ruins? Freedom and Cohabitation in Central Europe.” Pp. 40–54 in The Inhabited Ruins of Central Europe: Re-imagining Space, History, and Memory, edited by D. Sayer and D. Gafijczuk. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • 13. Czech Republic – The aesthetics of modernisation, industrialisation and urbanisation
  • Reading:
  • Wong, Yoke-Sum. 2013. “Edith Doesn’t Live Here Anymore: A Story of Farnsworth House.” Pp. 102–33 in The Inhabited Ruins of Central Europe: Re-imagining Space, History, and Memory, edited by D. Sayer and D. Gafijczuk. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Gafijczuk, Dariusz. 2013. “Anxious Geographies – Inhabited Traditions.” Pp. 178–93 in The Inhabited Ruins of Central Europe: Re-imagining Space, History, and Memory, edited by D. Sayer and D. Gafijczuk. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Literature
  • see Syllabus
Teaching methods
lectures, class discussion, homework, reading, writting essays
Assessment methods
written test with four open questions, each for 10 point, 50% of right answers minimum, assesment of active particiaption during class
Language of instruction
English
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2023, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2022, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2022/GLCb1003