87702 - The V4 Domestic Political Transition Processes

Learning outcomes

The students are expected to study in a comparative perspective the V4 political transition developments in the framework of post-communism and enlargement processes. At the end of the course, students should be able to evaluate the V4 national political issues and the current political affairs and the connection between domestic policies and the V4 role within the EU.

Course contents

This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of transition processes in the Visegrad Group (VG) countries. It specifically focuses on the European Union’s impact on the Visegrad Group countries, the “Eastern” enlargement and the recent democratic backsliding in the V4 countries. Students will gain knowledge about the highly complex processes of widening and deepening of the two fundamental structures of modern societies: democracy and market. The principal aim is to understand the interplay between the EU conditionality policy and its impact on the V4. The course briefly examines the fall of communism, history of the European Union enlargement, concepts, its policies and impact. It also describes the patterns of the Visegrad Group countries’ behavior as the EU member states. A special attention will be given to the recent rise of Euroscepticism, crisis of liberal democracy and illiberal (even autocratic) tendencies in the Visegrad Group countries.

• Introduction into the course. Syllabus information. Teaching assignments
  • A short Brainstorming: How the Visegrad countries on their road from the Communist regime into consolidated democracies? What went good and what went good? How do we perceived Visegrad Group and individual countries in terms of quality of democracy? How do we perceived VG and individual countries in terms of their EU membership? Why refugee crisis caused the divergence between the European Union and the VG? How can the knowledge of political transition in the context of the European integration help us to understand the current political developments in the Visegrad countries?

• Idea of Central Eastern Europe and its tragedy. The state socialism and its defining features.
  • Questions/Topics: How did Eastern Europe look like before 1989? How different were V4 countries? What forced/triggered the fall of the Berlin wall? Could we predict the 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall?

• Fall of the Berlin Wall. Enemies, Neighbors, and Friends: Healing Europe’s East-West division. A Triple Transition: a New Agenda for Central and Eastern Europe.
  • Questions/Topics: Please, discuss seven “unpleasant surprises in store” according to Offe’s predictions. How do you evaluate the real outcomes in V4 countries?

• The EU Enlargement Policy: Membership Criteria and V4 Responses.
  • Questions/Topics: What are the main conditions for a state to join the EU and why are those conditions decisive? Define power and uncertainty in the conditionality process. Do you think all the EU member-states have equal rights and obligations? What do you think about the impact of the EU conditionality on V4 countries? Has it help to democracy in V4?

• Case study of Slovakia’s Path to Democracy and Market Economy under the ‘auspices’ of the EU.
  • Questions/Topics: Describe and analyze the overall political and socio-economic situation in Slovakia in the 1990s. Choose one aspect and analyze its evolution by 2004, when the country joined the EU. Provide examples and facts to support your arguments.

• Case Study of the Czech Republic: Always a good student?
  • Questions/Topics: Describe and analyze the overall political and socio-economic situation in the Czech Republic in the 1990s. Choose one aspect and analyze its evolution by 2004, when the country joined the EU. Provide examples and facts to support your arguments.

• Case Study of Poland: EU Politics as an implication of its size?
  • Questions/Topics: Describe and analyze the overall political and socio-economic situation in Poland in the 1990s. Choose one aspect and analyze its evolution by 2004, when the country joined the EU. Provide examples and facts to support your arguments.

• Case Study of Hungary: The political context of EU accession in Hungary.
  • Questions/Topics: Describe and analyze the overall political and socio-economic situation in Hungary in the 1990s. Choose one aspect and analyze its evolution by 2004, when the country joined the EU. Provide examples and facts to support your arguments.

• Politics of TINA (There Is No Alternative) and its consequences in V4 countries.
  • Questions/Topics: Does the EU have a normative power over member-states? If yes, describe what this power means and how is it exercised. In what spheres is the asymmetry of the relations the EU vs. member states the most obvious? Why? Do you believe in the changing power of the EU? Provide arguments.

• Summarizing Workshop: Advantages and disadvantages of the EU membership for Visegrad Four. Transcending or Redrawing Europe's East–West Divide? How to continue with the European integration?

Readings/Bibliography

Ash, Timothy Garton. The Magic Lantern. The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin and Prague. (1990) Vintage Books, New York, pp.131-165, 488-491.

Kundera, Milan. (1984) The tragedy of central Europe. In The New York Review of Books (pre-1986); Apr 26, 1984; 31.

Offe, Claus (1991), ‘Capitalism by Democratic Design?’, Democratic Theory Facing the Triple Transition in East Central Europe’, Social Research 58(4), pp. 865–881.

Kaldor, M., Vejvoda, I. (1997) Democratization in Central and Eastern Europe. International Affairs, Vol. 73, No. 1, pp.59-82.

Featherstone, K., & Radaelli, C.M. (Eds.). (2003). The Politics of Europeanization. New York: Oxford University Press.

Grabbe, Heather (2003). Europeanisation Goes East: Power and Uncertainty in the EU Accession Process, in K. Featherstone and C. Radaelli (eds.) The Politics of Europeanization, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Malová, Darina and Marek Rybář (2003) “European Union Policies towards Slovakia: Carrots and Sticks of Political Conditionality.” In Jacques Rupnik & Jan Zielonka (eds.), The Road to the European Union, Volume 1: The Czech and Slovak Republics. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 98-112.

Malová, Darina & Dolný, Branislav (2016). Economy and democracy in Slovakia during the crisis from a Laggard to the EU Core. Problems of post-communism, 63 (5-6), pp. 300-312.

Rupnik, Jaques & Zielonka, Jan. The Road to the European Union: The Czech and Slovak Republics. Manchester University Press 2003

Sedelmeier, Ulrich.: Enlargement, From Rules for Accession to a Policy towards Europe. In: H. Wallace et al. (eds.): Policy-Making in the European Union, Oxford University Press, 2010. 401-429.

Vachudova, M. (2005) Europe Undivided: Democracy, Leverage, & Integration After Communism, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wolchik, Sharon L. & Curry, Jane L. (eds.). (2011). Central and East European Politics: From Communism to Democracy. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.

Johns, M. (2003):“Do As I Say, Not As I Do”: The European Union, Eastern Europe and Minority Rights, East European Politics and Societies, Vol. 17, No. 4, pages 682–699. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325403258291]

Malová, Darina & Dolný, Branislav (2008) The Eastern Enlargement of the EU: Challenges To Democracy? In: Human Affairs 18, 67–80, 2008.

Fisher, Sharon: Political Change in Post-Communist Slovakia and Croatia (2006) From Nationalist to Europeanist. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 83-120.

The EU as a Regional Actor: The Case of the Czech Republic. Dan Marek. Michael Baun. JCMS 2002 Volume 40. Number 5. pp. 895–919;

Hanley, Seán (2004) “A Nation of Sceptics? The Czech EU accession referendum 14 June 2003, West European Politics, 27:4, pp. 691-715, DOI: 10.1080/0140238042000249867

Szczerbiak, Aleks (2004) History Trumps Government Unpopularity: The June 2003 Polish EU Accession Referendum, West European Politics, 27:4, 671-690, DOI: 10.1080/0140238042000249876

Gwiazda, Anna (2013) The Europeanisation of regional policy in Poland: did political parties make a difference?, East European Politics, 29:2, 226-244, DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2013.782540.

Ferge, Zsuzsa and Gábor Juhász (2004) Accession and Social Policy: The Case of Hungary. Journal of European Social policy. Volume: 14 issue: 3, page(s): 233-251. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928704044621]

Steve Wood. 'The European Union: A Normative or Normal Power? European Foreign Affairs Review 14: 113–128, 2009.

Bakke, Elisabeth & Sitter, Nick (2020). “The EU’s Enfants Terribles: Democratic Backsliding in Central Europe since 2010”, Perspectives on Politics (published online: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592720001292 ).

Bermeo, Nancy. 2016. “On Democratic Backsliding.” Journal of Democracy 27, no. 1, pp. 5–19.

Frantz, Erica (2018). Authoritarianism: What Everybody Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press.

O’Donnell, Guillermo (2004). Why the rule of law matters. Journal of Democracy, 15(4), 32–46. https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2004.0076

Hanley, Sean & Milada Anna Vachudova (2018). “Understanding the iliberal turn: democratic backsliding in the Czech Republic”, East European Politics 34(3), p. 276-296.

Sitter, Nick & Elisabeth, Bakke (2019). “Democratic Backsliding in the European Union”, Encyclopedia of the European Union Politics.

Teaching methods

Lectures, seminars, workshop.

Assessment methods

The final research paper on a selected topic (chosen from the themes we will be covering in class) that has to be approved by the teacher (70% of the grade) and class active participation (30 percent of the grade) students will be asked to submit 3 minute papers after class as a discussion post. Posing questions and comments such as: What surprised you in readings and lecture? Why? Did you find a new concept, theory that helps to understand the topics and issues? How it was helpful? What did you agree or disagree with? What questions do you still have?.

Teaching tools

Lectures, discussions, power point presentation, reading materials, workshop.

Office hours

See the website of Darina Malova