Central and Eastern European Politics: The Past is Present
Course Information & Announcements
Engagement: Students are encouraged to provide suggestions for programs, polls, social activities, or any general feedback.
Upcoming Events: Multiple events will be hosted throughout the year, including "drinks with props" and a mentorship program in October.
New Plan for POLST Students: A new plan has been introduced for Political Studies (POLST) students. More information is available under the "courses section" of the Department of Political Studies website.
Specialization, Major, and Minor: Students are automatically placed in the specialization.
Switching Programs: To switch to the major or minor, students must contact Professor LaFarre via email.
Central and Eastern European Politics: The Past is Present
Course Focus: This is not a history class, but it examines how the past intensely influences contemporary life, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.
Memory Politics: The instructor highlights the current salience of memory politics, concerning which history to teach, how to rewrite national histories, and what aspects to emphasize. This has become a major political battlefield in established democracies and regions like Central and Eastern Europe, which have undergone dramatic changes (regime changes, border changes, territorial changes, war).
War in Ukraine: The return of war in Ukraine underscores the relevance of memory politics.
American Political Science Association (APSA) Conference Experience: The instructor attended the largest international political science conference in Vancouver.
Observations from American Scholars: American political scientists noted a greater sense of freedom in Canada, contrasting with perceived self-censorship in the US. They are increasingly discovering issues like nationalism and democratic backsliding (autocratization) in the US, similar to trends seen in Central Europe (e.g., Hungary, Poland).
Learning from Eastern European Scholarship: Panels focusing on Eastern Europe were packed, as American scholars sought insights from experts on the region to understand phenomena emerging in the US and Western European democracies.
Period of Transition: The current era might be another period of transition, moving away from previously taken-for-granted political norms.
The Enduring Past: Political scientists must examine how human behavior patterns, though not exactly repeatable, show similarities across space and time. This includes how humans relate to each other, address difference/diversity, seek security (human, group, national), manage governance, and resolve conflicts.
Historical Scope: The course will analyze how the past shapes the present through a comparative political science lens, focusing on Central and Eastern Europe since the early $19^{th}$ century.
The Role of Institutions and Political Attitudes
Continuity and Change: While societies need change, they also require continuity and predictability for individuals to feel secure and have certainty in their lives.
Importance of Predictability: Without predictability (e.g., not knowing what to expect from people daily), social life would be chaotic.
Institutions as Rules: Institutions provide this necessary predictability and continuity.
Definition: Institutions are fundamentally rules of behavior, appropriateness, and expectations.
Formal Institutions: These are formalized rules, such as regulations, laws, and government structures.
Informal Institutions: These are unformalized but routinized customs, norms, and traditions within society and social groups (e.g., norms for dating, marriage, dealing with birth/death, family structures, care for the elderly).
Origin: Both formal and informal institutions carry the past into the present.
Political Attitudes: These are another lens through which the past is present.
Definition: Political attitudes are values, expectations, and ideas about how government should function, how rules are designed, by whom, and how they are implemented.
Expression: In electoral democracies, these are often expressed through voting, but exist in all countries, democratic or not.
Distinguishing Key Concepts
Analytical Tools: In social sciences, words serve as analytical tools and concepts that require precise definition for expert analysis, distinct from their everyday usage.
Country: A geographical entity identifiable on a map.
State: A political organization that is territorial and usually occupies a country. A key distinction is that not all states effectively control every part of the country they claim, leading to concepts of "strong" vs. "weak" states.
Political Regime: The type of political structure defining how governance occurs and how rulers come to power (e.g., spectrum of democracy/non-democracy).
Political Ideology: A coherent set of ideas that underpins political regimes and shapes the evolution of states and societies.
Historical Context: Political ideologies, in their coherent form, are relatively recent, emerging since the Enlightenment. They are based on the revolutionary idea of human rationality, allowing individuals to judge their governance and potentially seek change.
Impact: This concept of individual judgment and the right to change rules was dangerous to non-democratic powers and emerged alongside technological changes and discoveries.
Definition for Scholars: Not just any idea, but a "coherent set of ideas about how governance should take place and the relationship between governance and those who govern."
Political Ideologies and Central & Eastern Europe
Imported Ideologies: A critical feature of Central and Eastern Europe is that all dominant political ideologies and structures since the $19^{th}$ century were imported (e.g., communism from Moscow).
Major Ideologies in the Region ($19^{th}$ Century onwards):
Nationalism
Liberalism
Socialism
Fascism
Communism
Distinction: Nationalism vs. Other Ideologies: Nationalism is different from liberalism, socialism, fascism, and communism.
Nature: Nationalism does not prescribe how society should be governed; rather, it can be associated with any other ideology (e.g., a democracy or a dictatorship can be nationalistic).
Core Principle: The fundamental principle of nationalism is that the boundaries of the country, state, and cultural nation should coincide, aiming to achieve and maintain a nation-state.
Economic Instability: Repeated crises and disruptions (four major shifts in three generations) have weakened economies, created uncertainty, and destabilized regimes in the region.
Ethnic Cleavages: Economic instability and uncertainty often politicize ethnic ties, reinforcing cleavages.
Sociological Generation: Approximately years.
Four Major Shifts in Social Order (Central and Eastern Europe)
1. Empires to Nation-States (Post-WWI)
Context: Modern countries in the region emerged from multi-ethnic, multinational empires (e.g., Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, Russian Empires) not long ago, around the end of World War I ( generations ago).
Imperial Logic Today: The instructor notes similar imperial logics re-emerging today (e.g., Russia's expansionism, Turkey's focus on the Ottoman Empire's past, China's strategy towards Chinese communities).
Impact: This history continues to influence how these states handle uncertainty, threats, and insecurities.
2. Failure of Liberal Democracies and Rise of Fascism (Interwar Period)
Post-WWI Liberalism: After WWI, nation-states (or states based on the nation-state idea) adopted liberal democracy, with drafted constitutions, multi-party systems, elections, free media, and investment in public education.
Short-lived: This period was relatively short (end of WWI to early $1930s$).
Challenges: Liberal democracy often didn't take deep root due to economic instability and perceived political bickering. It was seen as disorganized.
Majoritarian Nation-Building: Simultaneously, majoritarian nation-building occurred, emphasizing ethnic and national loyalties.
Rise of Fascism ($1930s$ to WWII):
Collapse of Democracies: Liberal democratic regimes collapsed, giving way to right-wing fascist dictatorships.
Appeal: Fascist parties branded themselves as bringing order and stability, defending the nation during times of economic depression and uncertainty (e.g., collapse of Weimar Germany).
Ethnic Pride/Kinship: Fascism appealed to ethnic pride and kinship, offering a sense of security.
Economic Promises: Fascists promised economic success and welfare for their