Crises and Reforming of State Socialism in East-Central Europe - JMM513

• Title: Crises and Reforming of State Socialism in East-Central Europe
• Guaranteed by: Department of Russian and East European Studies (23-KRVS)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2007 to 2007
• Semester: summer
• E-Credits: 5
• Examination process: summer s.:written
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:1/1, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / unknown (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: Hannes Lachmann

Annotation

Last update: VYKOUKAL (16.03.2008)

The course will treat political crises and reform during Cold War Central Europe. We will analyse and discuss the 4 most prominent attempts to establish more liberal and humane conditions within the "real" socialist systems. While looking at the different contexts of these cases, we will be looking for common causes and mutual influences between these crises.

Literature

Last update: LACHMANN (24.02.2009)

Required Texts:

1953: Ostermann, C. F., & Byrne, M. (2001). Uprising in East Germany 1953: The Cold War, the German question, and the first major upheaval behind the Iron Curtain. National Security Archive Cold War readers. Budapest: CEU Press.

1956: Békés, C., Byrne, M., & Rainer, J. M. (2002). The 1956 Hungarian revolution. A history in documents. National Security Archive Cold War readers. Budapest: CEU Press.

1968: Navrátil, J. (1998). The Prague Spring 1968. A National Security Archive Documents Reader. (Prague Spring Foundation, Ed.). Budapest: CEU Press.

1980/81: Paczkowski, A., Byrne, M., Domber, G. F., & Klotzbach, M. (2007). From Solidarity to Martial Law: The Polish Crisis of 1980-1981. A Documentary History (1st ed.). National Security Archive Cold War readers. Budapest , New York: CEU Press.

Recommended Readings:

Global:

• Berend, I. T. (1996). Central and Eastern Europe, 1944 - 1993: Detour from the periphery to the periphery. Cambridge studies in modern economic history, 1. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

• Ekiert, G. (1996). The State Against Society: Political Crises and Their Aftermath in East Central Europe. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.

• Vykoukal, J., Litera, B., & Tejchman, M. (2000). Východ: Vznik, vývoj a rozpad sovětského bloku 1944 - 1989. Historická rada. Praha: Naklad. Libri.

1953:

• Engelmann, R.; Kowalczuk, I. (2005). Volkserhebung gegen den SED-Staat. Eine Bestandsaufnahme zum 17. Juni 1953. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

• Ingimundarson, V. Cold War Misperceptions: The Communist and Western Responses to the East German Refugee Crisis in 1953. In: Journal of Contemporary History. Vol. 29, No. 3 (Jul., 1994), pp. 463-481.

1956:

• Györkei, J., & Horváth, M. (Eds.). (1999). Soviet military intervention in Hungary 1956. Atlantic studies on society in change, 100. Budapest: Central European Univ. Press.

• Kramer, M. The Soviet Union and the 1956 Crises in Hungary and Poland: Reassessments and New Findings. In: Journal of Contemporary History.Vol. 33, No. 2 (Apr., 1998), pp. 163-214

1968:

• Williams, K. (1997). The Prague Spring and its aftermath: Czechoslovak politics, 1968 - 1970. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

• Pauer, Jan (2004): Praha 1968. Vpád varšavské smlouvy ; pozadí - plánování - provedení. Vyd. 1. Praha: Argo.

1980/81:

• Ash, T. Garton. (1999). The Polish revolution: Solidarity (Rev. and updated ed). London: Penguin.

• Mastny, V. The Soviet Non-Invasion of Poland in 1980-1981 and the End of the Cold War. Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 51, No. 2. (Mar., 1999), pp. 189-211.

Requirements to the exam

Last update: LACHMANN (04.03.2009)

Course Requirements:

• Reading: 20-30 pp. per session, one page written summary to be turned in (e-mail) before the next lesson.

• Presentation of a topic related to a course topic (about 10-15 min.), presentations will be in English only.

• Paper (extension of the presentation): 5-8 pages (Times New Roman 12pt., 1,5 line spacing). The paper will require research of material in addition to the class readings. Students are to analyze the information covered and come to their own conclusions about the key questions addressed. Papers can be turned in in English, Czech or German.

• Participation (not more than 2 absences, 1 unexcused).

Special requirements (students taking correspondence courses etc.) have to be settled during the first session.

Syllabus

Last update: LACHMANN (24.02.2009)

1. Introduction

2. Stalin's Death and the "New Course" in Eastern Germany

3. The Uprising of the 17th of June 1953 in the GDR

4. 1956 -Destalinization and Unrest in Central Europe

5. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956

6. Mass Escape and Consolidation in Hungary

7. The "Prague Spring"- Prelude and First Stage

8. The "Prague Spring" 1968 - Reforms and the Warsaw Treaty

9. Aftermath of the Czechoslovak Reform Experiment

10. Solidarność - Independent Labour Union and Social Movement in Poland

11. Solidarność in the Long Run - From Resistance to Transformation

12. Summary - Similarities, Differences and Influences Between the Crises