B0520 - THE V4 DOMESTIC POLITICAL TRANSITION PROCESSES

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

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 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.

Contenuti

This course provides 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 and the “Eastern” enlargement. Students will gain knowledge about the highly complex processes of widening and deepening of the two fundamental structures of modern societies: democracy and market in the VG countries. The principal aim is to understand the interplay between the domestic transition, EU conditionality policy, models of Europeanization and its impact on the V4countries. 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 and selected domestic political issues. A special attention is given to a rise of populism and decay of liberal democracies in V4 countries.

1. Introduction into the course. Idea of Central Eastern Europe and its tragedy. The state socialism and its defining features.

2. 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.

3. The EU Enlargement Policy: Membership Criteria and V4 Responses.

4. Case study of Slovakia’s Path to Democracy and Market Economy under the ‘auspices’ of the EU. New Nationhood and Old Nationalism. Economic Neoliberal Policies and Their Effects.

5. Case Study of the Czech Republic: From a Good Transition Student to an Awkward Member? The Role of Structural Conditions and Political Leadership.

6. Case Study of Poland: EU Politics as an implication of its size? —The Europeanisation of regional policy: did political parties make a difference? —Successful economic modernization by Europeanization and partly failed cultural modernization?

7. Case Study of Hungary: The political context of EU accession in Hungary. EU Accession and Social Policy. 30 years of democratic transition: politics of the illiberal state as the outcome?

8. The European Union: A Normative or Normal Power? EU Accession and Conditionality Politics as TINA (There Is No Alternative) and its Consequences in V4 Countries.

Testi/Bibliografia

1. Milan Kundera. The tragedy of central Europe. In The New York Review of Books (pre-1986); Apr 26, 1984; 31.
2. Timothy Garton Ash.1990. The Magic Lantern. The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin and Prague. Vintage Books, New York, 1990, pp.131-165, 488-491.
3. Offe, Claus (1991), ‘Capitalism by Democratic Design?’, Democratic Theory Facing the Triple Transition in East Central Europe’, Social Research 58(4), pp. 865–881.
4. Kaldor, M., Vejvoda, I. (1997) Democratization in Central and Eastern Europe. International Affairs, Vol. 73, No. 1, pp.59-82.
5. Ramet, Sabrina P.& Christine M. Hassenstab 2019. The Challenge of Transformation since 1989: An Introduction. CUP. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108752466.002
6. Checkel, Jeffrey T. (2005) International Institutions and Socialization in Europe: Introduction and Framework. International Organization, Vol. 59, No. 4, pp. 801-826.
7. Schimmelfennig, Frank (2005). Strategic Calculation and International Socialization: Membership Incentives, Party Constellations, and Sustained Compliance in Central and Eastern Europe. International Organization, 59, pp 827-860. doi:10.1017/S0020818305050290
8. 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.
9. Haughton, Tim (2007) When Does the EU Make a Difference? Conditionality and the Accession Process in Central and Eastern Europe. PSR, Vol. 5, pp. 233–246.
10. 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.
11. 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
12. Marek, Dan& Baun, Michael (2002). The EU as a Regional Actor: The Case of the Czech Republic. JCMS, Volume 40. Number 5. pp. 895–919;
13. Hanley, Seán & Vachudova, Milada Anna (2018) Understanding the illiberal turn: democratic backsliding in the Czech Republic, East European Politics, 34:3, 276-296, DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2018.1493457
14. 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
15. 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.
16. Sześciło, Dawid. 2019. Is There a Room for Local and Regional Self-Government in the Illiberal Democracy? Struggle over Recentralization Attempts in Poland. Studia Iuridica, vol. 79, pp. 167- 180. https://www.wuw.pl/data/include/cms/Studia_Iuridica_79_2019.pdf#page=161
17. Batory, Agnes. 2002, The Political Context of EU Accession in Hungary. https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/Europe/hungarian.pdf
18. 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
19. Szikra, Dorottya. 2014. Democracy and welfare in hard times: The social policy of the Orbán Government in Hungary between 2010 and 2014. Journal of European Social Policy. DOI: 10.1177/0958928714545446
20. Steve Wood. 2009. 'The European Union: A Normative or Normal Power? European Foreign Affairs Review 14: 113–128.Buzogány, Aron (2017): Illiberal democracy in Hungary: authoritarian diffusion or domestic causation?, Democratization, DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2017.1328676
21. 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
22. 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 )
23. Kim, S. (2023). ‘Illiberal Democracy’after Post‐Democracy: Revisiting the Case of Hungary. The Political Quarterly.
24. Kim, S. (2021). Discourse, hegemony, and populism in the Visegrád Four. Routledge.

Metodi didattici

Lectures and seminars.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Assessment methods will be introduced to the students during the first introductory class.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Computer. MSTeams. PowerPoint. Educational games.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Darina Malova