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This course examines the political, social, and economic transformations of the Western Balkans since the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the wars of the 1990s. It approaches the region through the overlapping legacies of post-conflict reconstruction, post-socialist transformation, and the dissolution of the common Yugoslav state, asking how these processes continue to shape contemporary societies and political systems.
The first part introduces the Western Balkans as a post-conflict, post-socialist, and post-Yugoslav space. The course then examines the politics of memory and symbolic representation, focusing on competing interpretations of Yugoslavia, war, victimhood, and national identity. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which the violent past is remembered, contested, denied, and politically instrumentalized. The third part addresses different ways of dealing with the legacies of the Yugoslav wars. It examines transitional justice, war-crime accountability and denial, reconciliation and peacebuilding, as well as Yugonostalgia and alternative forms of post-Yugoslav identification. The course subsequently turns to broader post-war transformations, including neoliberal restructuring, social unrest, populism, and changing forms of political legitimacy. The final part adopts a comparative case-study approach to examine the divergent trajectories of Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Montenegro. These cases address democratization and illiberalism, international intervention and state-building, sovereignty and contested statehood, power-sharing and political fragmentation, identity disputes, and external political influence. Combining theoretical perspectives with empirical case studies, the course enables students to understand both the shared legacies of Yugoslavia’s dissolution and the divergent political trajectories that have shaped the Western Balkans since the 1990s. Poslední úprava: Bartůšek Jaroslav, Bc. (16.09.2026)
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The course aims to provide students with a theoretically informed and comparatively grounded understanding of the Western Balkans since the dissolution of Yugoslavia. It examines contemporary political and social developments through the interaction of three major processes: the legacies of violent conflict, post-socialist transformation, and the political and institutional consequences of Yugoslavia’s dissolution.
Particular emphasis is placed on developing students’ ability to connect region-wide processes with different national trajectories. Rather than treating the Western Balkans as a homogeneous post-conflict region, the course encourages students to identify both common patterns and significant differences in how states and societies have addressed the legacies of war, political transition, identity, sovereignty, democratization, and external intervention.
By the end of the course, students should be able to: • explain the significance of post-conflict, post-socialist, and post-Yugoslav legacies for understanding the contemporary Western Balkans; • analyse how collective memory, symbolic politics, and competing interpretations of the past shape contemporary identities and political conflicts; • critically assess different approaches to transitional justice, war-crime accountability, reconciliation, and post-conflict peacebuilding; • explain the political and social significance of Yugonostalgia and other forms of post-Yugoslav identification; • analyse the effects of post-socialist economic transformation, neoliberal restructuring, social unrest, and populism on societies in the region; • compare processes of democratization, authoritarian and illiberal tendencies, and political transformation across Western Balkan states; • analyse the challenges of sovereignty, state-building, power-sharing, and contested statehood in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina; • explain the political significance of identity and statehood disputes in North Macedonia and political polarization and external influence in Montenegro; • compare the post-Yugoslav trajectories of Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Montenegro; • critically evaluate the relationship between historical legacies and contemporary political developments across the Western Balkans. Poslední úprava: Žíla Ondřej, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (09.09.2026)
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Final grade: written examination — 100%. Successful completion of the course requires fulfillment of the attendance requirement and a passing grade in the final written examination.
A) 100 - 91% (B) 90 - 81% (C) 80- 71% (D) 70-61 (E) 60-51 (F) less than 50%
Based on Dean's Measure 20/2019: https://fsv.cuni.cz/deans-measure-no-20/2019
Poslední úprava: Žíla Ondřej, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (09.09.2026)
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See the reader for the selected required reading for each seminar. Recommended reading: BELLONI, R.: State Building and International Intervention in Bosnia, New York 2007. COHEN, Lenard J., ed. a DRAGOVIĆ-SOSO, Jasna, ed. State collapse in South-Eastern Europe: new perspectives on Yugoslavia's disintegration. West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, ©2008. DŽIHIĆ, V., HAMILTON, D. (eds.): Unfinished Business: The Western Balkans and the International Community. Washinton 2012. GORDY, Eric D. Guilt, responsibility, and denial: the past at stake in post-Milosevic Serbia [online]. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2013. JANSEN, S.: Yearnings in the Meantime: 'Normal Lives' and the State in a Sarajevo Apartment Complex. Berghahn Books 2015. LISTHAUG, O., RAMET, S.P., DULIĆ, D. (eds.): Civic and uncivic values: Serbia in the post-Milošević era. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2011. McEVOY, J., O’LEARY, B.: Power sharing in deeply divided places [online]. 1st ed. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013. RAMET, S. P. (ed.): Central and southeast European politics since 1989, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Poslední úprava: Žíla Ondřej, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (09.09.2026)
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Assessment The examination consists of three parts:
Poslední úprava: Žíla Ondřej, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (30.09.2026)
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I. Post-Yugoslav Transformations Week 1 The Western Balkans: Post-Conflict, Post-Socialist, and Post-Yugoslav Legacies (29.9.)
II. Memory, Identity, and the Politics of the Past
Week 2 Politics of Memory: Remembering and Reinterpreting Yugoslavia (7.10.)
Week 3 Politics of Symbols: Remembering the Past in Divided Societies (14.10.)
II. Negotiating the Post-Yugoslav Past
Week 4 Transitional Justice: Accountability, Memory, and the Denial of War Crimes (21.10.)
Week 5 Reconciliation after Violent Conflict: Local Dynamics and the Limits of Peacebuilding (4.11.)
Week 6 The Return of Yugoslavia? Yugonostalgia and Post-Yugoslav Identity (11.11.)
IV. Political and Socio-Economic Transformation
Week 7 Post-Socialist Transformations: Neoliberalism, Social Unrest, and Populism (18.11.)
V. Divergent Post-Yugoslav Trajectories: Country Case Studies
Week 8 Post-Tuđman Croatia: Democratization and Nationalist Backsliding (25.11.)
Week 9 From Milošević to Vučić: Illiberal Continuities in Serbian Politics (2.12.)
Week 10 Kosovo and the International Community: Intervention, State-Building, and Sovereignty (9.12.)
Week 11 Bosnia and Herzegovina after Dayton: Power-Sharing and Political Fragmentation (16.12.)
Week 12 What’s in a Name? Identity, Statehood, and North Macedonia
Week 13 Montenegro: Political Crisis and External Influence Poslední úprava: Žíla Ondřej, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (09.09.2026)
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By the end of the course, students should be able to: • explain the significance of post-conflict, post-socialist, and post-Yugoslav legacies for understanding the contemporary Western Balkans; • analyse how collective memory, symbolic politics, and competing interpretations of the past shape contemporary identities and political conflicts; • critically assess different approaches to transitional justice, war-crime accountability, reconciliation, and post-conflict peacebuilding; • explain the political and social significance of Yugonostalgia and other forms of post-Yugoslav identification; • analyse the effects of post-socialist economic transformation, neoliberal restructuring, social unrest, and populism on societies in the region; • compare processes of democratization, authoritarian and illiberal tendencies, and political transformation across Western Balkan states; • analyse the challenges of sovereignty, state-building, power-sharing, and contested statehood in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina; • explain the political significance of identity and statehood disputes in North Macedonia and political polarization and external influence in Montenegro; • compare the post-Yugoslav trajectories of Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Montenegro; • critically evaluate the relationship between historical legacies and contemporary political developments across the Western Balkans. Poslední úprava: Žíla Ondřej, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (09.09.2026)
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