The Politics of Central and Eastern Europe
PS3715 KEVIN DEEGAN-KRAUSE
Class Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 9:35 a.m. to 11:25 a.m. Class Location: 128 State Hall
Office Hours: Wednesday, 2:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Office Location: 2053 F/AB
Web Address: http://www.la.wayne.edu/polisci/kdk/easteurope Phone: 248-383-5362

Introduction

This course covers a region that is not really a "region" anymore.   It covers a century which saw fundamental change during just about every decade.  If you want all of the world's history and politics squeezed into a very small space, welcome to Central and Eastern Europe.

Understanding the politics of East Central Europe will require us to devote considerable attention to key historical developments beginning with the rise of national and Marxist movements in the 19th century, continuing through the devastation of World War I and World War II, the domination of the entire region by Communist Parties, and finally the collapse of communism and the emergence of new trajectories, some mild, some harsh, all interesting.  The range of the course materials and methods will be extremely wide: we will explore countries as different as Slovenia and Russia, as Estonia and Serbia.  We will read writings by nationalists and Marxists and liberals. We will look at autobiographies and statistics.  And we will sing songs and see movies and have frequent discussions.

You should take this course if you have an interest in the politics of the present and recent past and want to understand it better. You probably should not take this course if you cannot devote a reasonable amount of time and energy to reading carefully, thinking deeply, and writing well.

Goals

The course is designed to help you achieve the following seven objectives:

Methods

Every class period will demand full participation.  Occasionally I will offer brief lectures to clarify points that you cannot be expected to know, but even then I will rely heavily on you to connect the dots and draw the necessary conclusions that you can share with the class.  The writing assignments and presentations will challenge you to think more deeply about particular topics covered in the course and to apply what you have learned to new situations. They will also help you develop your ability to conduct research, construct cogent arguments, to write with clarity and precision, and to work together with people (and machines) to achieve those goals.

Assignments

The following list of assignments and expectations should give you an idea of what you will need to do in this course and how I will evaluate your work:

Category Method of evaluation Assignment Details Due Value
Each Sum
Writing Formal Papers: I will grade papers for responsiveness to question, quality of thesis statement, argument, evidence, organization, and grammar and syntax! See more on how I grade. Diagnostic Paper (2 pages) 8-Sep 5% 70%
First Guided Paper (5-7 pages) 3-Nov. 25%
Second Guided Paper (5-7 pages) 13-Dec 30%
Online Country Updates: I will grade for quality of thought and attention to detail (though you must always maintain reasonable standards of written expression). One-page post seven times during the semester and participation in "Meetings" See schedule below 10%
Expression In-class Country Updates. I will grade presentations individually, though individuals will need help from the other members of the triad. I will grade the presentation on the basis of clarity, organization and argument. Seven "Meetings" held over the course of the semester. See schedule below 10% 30%
Collaborative Presentation: I will grade presentations individually, though individuals will need help from the other members of the triad. I will grade the presentation on the basis of clarity, organization and argument. Elbonia, Past and Present 20-Dec 10%
Classroom Participation: I will evaluate your responsiveness classroom discussion. I will expect you to be capable at any time of voicing intelligent opinions based on prior reading All semester long 10%
Overall 100%
Fundamentals Attendance: More than two unexcused/unexplained absences may lower your grade by a full letter. All semester long Sine qua non
Attention: Persistent distraction and inattention may also lower your grade by a full letter. 
Completion: Failure to complete any of the required assignments (those above as well as the initial contact, map quiz) will result in a grade of F.

The following paragraphs should help to clarify my expectations in these categories:

Papers. Good writing is good thinking. Writing is one of the most important things you can learn while you are at Wayne State. In this class you will have several good opportunities to practice and refine your writing. These papers and other exercises will determine more than half of your grade.

Paper Content and Style. Papers will be marked and graded as if this were an English class. If you are having difficulty writing well or clearly, please take the first possible opportunity to talk with me about possible remedies and we will do whatever we can to help. You can find on-line guides to writing in the English language at the Grammar and Style resources website and at Wayne's Academic Success Center on the second floor of the Undergraduate Library. There is also a very good website called "The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing" which is a companion to Michael Harvey's book of the same name, and has excellent coverage on a variety of writing questions including paper arguments,style,organization and plagiarism. We have also received the permission from a few former students to post some examples well-written student essays that we have received in the past at Wayne, in the hope that these may offer some guidance. If your ambition extends beyond writing correctly to writing well (and I hope it does), you cannot ask for better guides than the following two authors:

Citing your sources. In our information-based society, ideas are as precious as the gold of earlier eras. Stealing someone else's ideas is no more acceptable than stealing someone else's possessions, and it will get you in a lot of trouble. But why steal something that is already free? The only cost to you as a student for using somebody else's ideas is that you must give them appropriate credit, and that is very easy to do.  If you get any idea from any source, you must cite that source, even if you do not use the same wording. In other words, you must cite the source even if you rewrite it in your own words. Furthermore, if you use an author's specific wording for more than three words in sequence ("In the beginning..."), you must put the words in quotation marks. For more guidance, I have adapted guidelines written Dr. Noel Parker of the University of Surrey on when and why to cite others' words. In general, please simply follow the adage: 'when in doubt, cite your source'" (Cason 1998). The previous sentence is a case in point. The quotation in question came from the web-site of Prof. Jeffrey Cason at Middlebury College. If this syllabus were a paper, it would have to contain the following entry:

Works Cited

Cason, Jeffrey. 2009. Academic Conduct. Available WWW: https://segue1.middlebury.edu/index.php?&site=is101a-s03&section=1902&page=6718&action=site [Accessed 10 January 2009].

In this class you may use your own preferred citation format, but you must use a consistent style all the way through your paper. If you have any questions or doubts about what to cite, you must contact me before you hand in a paper with questionable references. Do not risk your grade--perhaps even your college career--by needlessly using somebody else's ideas and failing to credit them.

The consequence of plagiarism is automatic expulsion from the course with a failing grade

Of course the most serious problems with citation are not accidental omissions but intentional efforts to save thought and effort by simply copying what somebody else has already done. The paper assignments in this course cannot be answered by anything you can buy or copy whole from the internet or from fellow students, and I have become extremely adept at identifying the sources of plagiarism. Unfortunately, there have been enough attempts (none successful) that I now subject papers to a random screening process involving test-based search engines and the surprisingly discerning services of the university's web-based plagiarism detector. In the unlikely event that you still want to take the risk of plagiarizing, I will deal with the attempts in accordance with the provisions of the Student Due Process Statue specified in the university's Academic Integrity statement, which you can obtain online at http://www.otl.wayne.edu/wsu_integrity.php.

Paper Format. Unless you have prior approval from me, you must prepare your papers and take-home exams on a word processor in one of four formats: text (.txt), rich text (.rtf), Microsoft Word (.doc) or Word Perfect (.wpd). Papers must be double spaced, with reasonable font size (10-12) and margins (1 inch), and within the specified length guidelines. All these guidelines are there for your benefit as well as for mine. A paper that is too long bears evidence of inability to be concise and organized. A paper that is too short suggests that something is missing. Finally, think for at least a moment about aesthetics. Papers that are messy, crammed together or otherwise unreadable suggest a lack of attention to detail that may also be found in the content itself.

Electronic Paper Submission.  Papers are due by 11:59:59 p.m. on the specified due date.  Unless you have discussed alternatives with me, you should submit each paper electronically to the course wiki: http://easteurope.pbworks.com  This will provide a formal record of the paper's submission including a time and date stamp.  It also allows you to submit your papers from home or work.  Unless we have agreed in writing ahead of time, I will not accept papers sent solely by email because there is no way to verify claims that papers have been sent.

Electronic Research and Writing Tools:  In order to help you become familiar with the tools that you will need for your future careers, I will invite you to make active use of the following:

Deadlines. Students will have a total of three days (72 hours, to be precise) of grace which can be applied in any combination to any of the first four assignments (but not to the final because I have a limited time in which to submit grades). You may allot your 72 hours among the papers in any way you want. (You can, for example, submit one 72 hours late and all of the rest on time. Or you can submit one 10 hours late, one 20 hours late and one 42 hours late. Any combination is acceptable as long as the total does not exceed 72 hours). Plan ahead, because in exchange for this flexibility, I will hold you to high standards of punctuality. Once grace time is used up, grades for late assignments immediately drop by a full letter (making a B into a C, for example) and continue to drop by one grade for each 24 hour period of lateness. There will be no exceptions, barring written evidence of trauma or tragedy. Be forewarned that papers handed in late may not be handed back to you as promptly as those handed in on time.

Evaluation. An excellent paper must demonstrate a strong argument expressed in a coherent thesis statement and developed in an organized fashion using appropriate argument and evidence.  Grammar and syntax are also crucial.  I will grade papers as if this were an English class. An abundance of grammatical and usage errors can have a severely negative effect on your grade.  If you have questions, I have prepared an extremely detailed account of how I grade written work.

Country Updates.  Each student will select a country and  on seven occasions students will represent the main cultural group within that country in a "Meeting" to discuss of regional historical trends.  Before the beginning of the "Meeting"  students must write one page (approximately 500 word) briefing that responds to the meeting agendas (posted one week before the meeting).  In class, students must be prepared to faithfully represent their respective countries.

Evaluation. Country updates should follow the basic rules of good writing--thesis statement, organizaiton, strong argument, and sufficient grammar and style.

Deadlines: Country updates submitted after the beginning of the relevant class period will be marked as "F."

Research Presentation. It is essential that you acquire the ability to talk about what you have learned without putting others to sleep, bewildering them, or insulting them. Those of you who have spent any time in the business and academic worlds will know that this skill is insufficiently widespread.  As Edward Tufte, guru of visual design, once noted "Power corrupts. Powerpoint corrupts absolutely." Most presentations these days use some sort of electronic display of information. Most presentations are (therefore) terrible. Presenters offer incomprehensible slides densely worded with text and then read from those slides. In other settings these could easily be used as an enhanced interrogation technique. We will work together to design presentations that make effective use of the technology and get your points across as effectively as possible.

Evaluation.  I will evaluate presentations on the same basis as the papers:  does it show signs of clear thinking, and does it express that thinking in ways that are clear and meaningful to its audience.  For the group-based final presentation, all members of a group will earn the same grade unless I have strong reasons for believing that fairness requires a grade differential.

Deadlines. Presenters must without exception be prepared for presentation on the scheduled day.

Map Test.  You cannot speak intelligently about other countries and cultures unless you know where they are.  In the third week of class I will ask you to take a map quiz in which you will be responsible for locating every country.   Those who cannot will get to take the test again the following week (what fun!) and the following week and so on.  Here are the countries you are responsible for identifying: 

Albania Georgia Poland
Armenia Hungary Romania
Azerbaijan Kazakhstan Russia
Belarus Kosova Serbia
Bosnia and Herzegovina Kyrgyzstan Slovakia
Bulgaria Latvia Slovenia
Croatia Lithuania Tajikistan
Czech Republic Macedonia Turkmenistan
East Germany Moldova Ukraine
Estonia Montenegro Uzbekistan


Initial Contact.  In order to make sure that we can remain in contact, I will ask you to send me an email during the first week of class that contains your most-used email address, any websites/blogs/pages that you maintain, and your delicious.com login name (one which you will quickly need to create if you do not have one already) and other method by which you would prefer to be in touch.

Attendance.  Class attendance is mandatory. More than two absences can result in a penalty of one full letter grade. Habitual lateness is indistinguishable from absence and will incur the same penalty. If a class session conflicts with a religious holiday, notify me in advance so that I can make alternative arrangements.  Otherwise the only basis for excused absence in class is written evidence of trauma or tragedy.

Attention and Participation. It is no longer enough to compel your physical attendance. "Virtual" absence is equally problematic, and while you are in class--even in lecture--I expect you to be fully engaged and not to let your attention stray to the many appealing worlds that you carry with you--your phone, your iPod, or any irrelevant websites or programs open on your laptop. I know how appealing these are, but I also know the value of an occasional respite from multiple, simultaneous demands on your time (and I think what I have to say in class is more important than those, at least for a few hours per week) so I ask you listen and talk. I know (since I have done it myself) how easy it is to hide your phone unobtrusively in your lap or alt-tab away from your Facebook page when an instructor is passing by, so I will not make the futile effort of trying to police my request. Rather I will put you on your own honor and (unless you are incompetent enough to get caught watching YouTube in class) I will evaluate you instead on the basis of your engagement, your willingness to respond to my questions (which will be frequent), and your willingness to ask questions of your own. Stony silence, unprepared rambling will reduce your grade, as will failure to demonstrate respect for the comments and questions of others.

Final Grades. These depend on you, but you should know that I am a difficult grader and award grades of "A" only to work that could be regarded as exceptional in any university in the country.  I regard grades of A- and B+ as appropriate for work that is very good but not exceptional.  No student can receive a passing grade without completing all required assignments; it is not enough simply to do well on most assignments and leave one or two undone.

Accessibility

Every student should have the best possible chance to engage in learning.  If you have a documented disability that requires accommodations, you will need to register with Student Disability Services (SDS) for coordination of your academic accommodations. The Student Disability Services (SDS) office is located at 1600 David Adamany Undergraduate Library in the Student Academic Success Services department. SDS telephone number is 313-577-1851 or 313-577-3365 (TDD only). Once you have your accommodations in place, I will be glad to meet with you privately during my office hours to discuss your special needs. Student Disability Services’ mission is to assist the university in creating an accessible community where students with disabilities have an equal opportunity to fully participate in their educational experience at Wayne State University. 

SDS also makes the following qualification about their its efforts: "Please be aware that a delay in getting SDS accommodation letters for the current semester may hinder the availability or facilitation of those accommodations in a timely manner. Therefore, it is in your best interest to get your accommodation letters as early in the semester as possible."

Books and materials

We will be using two books in this course and a variety of online readings. Please buy the following (relatively inexpensive) volumes:

I will also make as much use as possible of electronic resources.  Many readings below, therefore, will require you to follow links to internal- or external- sites containing the relevant text.  In some cases, furthermore, I will ask you to use on-line databases such as JSTOR and Project Muse to which Wayne State subscribes. These are available from any on-campus computer and with off-campus computers that are correctly configured.

Wherever you may decide to read or print the on-line material, you are responsible for downloading material at least one week before so that you are not caught out by a dead link or other error. If you have problems with downloading any material, contact me immediately so that I can find some way to get you a copy that you can read before class.

The Class Schedule

This list represents a minimum set of readings for the course. I reserve the privilege of making additions over time, but I promise to inform you about any such changes well in advance.

Month Date Day Week Era Topic Event Readings

Sept.

1

Wed.

W1

Dawn of history

Introductions

None

8

Wed.

W2

Until 1800

Modernity

Diagnostic Paper Due

Black: Rebirth

13

Mon.

W3

1800s

Liberalism

The Economist, "The Perils of Complacency" ; Marx, The Communist Manifesto, Intro and Section I, ; The Declaration of Independence ; Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen ; Optional for the ambitious: Landes, The Unbound Prometheus, Part I and Part II

15

Wed.

Nationalism

Country Selection Meeting

Barrington, "'Nation' and 'nationalism': the misuse of key concepts in political science" ; Gellner, Nations and Nationalism, Chapter 1 ; Optional for the ambitious: Andric, Bridge on the Drina, Chapter XI

20

Mon.

W4

1900s-1920s

Communism

Ball and Dagger, "Communism," Part I ; Marx, "The Communist Manifesto," Section II and Section III ; Lenin, " What Is To Be Done"

22

Wed.

War and Revolution

Emperor's Ball

Rothschild and Wingfield, Chapter 1

27

Mon.

W5

1920s-1940s

Hitler

Ball and Dagger, "Fascism" ; Mussolini, "What is Fascism" ; Hitler, Speech of April 12, 1921 and selections from Mein Kampf

29

Wed.

Stalin

Comintern Meeting I

Ball and Dagger, "Communism," Part II ; Stalin, "Concerning the Policy of Eliminating the Kulaks as a Class"

Oct.

4

Mon.

W6

1950s-1960s

War and Domination

Rothschild and Wingfield, Chapter 2

6

Wed.

Communism in Power

Comintern Meeting II

Rothschild and Wingfield, Chapter 3

11

Mon.

W7

1960s-1970s

Resistence

Rothschild and Wingfield, Chapter 5

13

Wed.

State Socialism

Gosplan Meeting

Gould, Chapter 1, and Birman, Wilhelm and Nove "Planned Economy" Debate (see wiki page)

18

Mon.

W8

1980s-1990s

Przypadek

Rothschild and Wingfield, Chapter 6 and Havel, "The Power of the Powerless" (see wiki page)

20

Wed.

Dissent

Rothschild and Wingfield, Chapter 7

25

Mon.

W9

Revolution I

Dissident Meeting

Rothschild and Wingfield, Chapter 8

27

Wed.

Revolution II

"Power of the Powerless" Video

Nov.

1

Mon.

W10

Transition I

Curry and Wolchik, Chapter 1

3

Wed.

Transition II

New Presidents' Training Course

First Guided Paper Due

8

Mon.

W11

1990s-2000s

Players: Nation and culture

Curry and Wolchik, Chapter 4, Csergo

10

Wed.

Nationalist Bonfire

Curry and Wolchik, Chapter 13, Baskin and Pickering

15

Mon.

W12

Rules: Politics

Curry and Wolchik, Chapter 2, Bunce

17

Wed.

Prime Ministers' Happy Hour

Curry and Wolchik, Chapter 16, Kuzio

22

Mon.

W13

Stakes: Economy

Curry and Wolchik, Chapter 3, Fisher

29

Mon.

W14

Chamber of Commerce Breakfast

Gould, Chapters 2 and 3

Dec.

1

Wed.

The Bigger Picture: Integration

Curry and Wolchik, Chapter 6, Linden and Chapter 7, Simon

6

Mon.

W15

EU Parliament Session

Haughton

8

Wed.

2010s

The Future I

TBA

13

Mon.

W16

The Future II

TBA

20

Mon.

Exam

A different present

Elbonia