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The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 represents a symbolic moment of the end of the Cold War and of a political and economic order that politically and ideologically divided Europe and the whole world for almost half a century. This course is designed to provide a broad background to an understanding of the political, social-economic, and cultural developments in Eastern Europe.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall on the contrary, the most recent history of Eastern European countries, the period of their transition to political democracy and a market economic order has been marked with new instabilities, crises and wars, which have had serious implications for global trends as well. In addition to the primary focus on the internal evolution of the Eastern European states from the end of the Second World War to the present, significant attention will be paid to the most important events and themes of the pre-war history of this part of the world. The importance of Western assistance and especially of the EU enlargement process to the East for the success of post-communist democratisation and economic transition in Central European, Baltic and Balkan states will be also examined in a greater detail.
This course will enable students to become familiar with the major issues of the history of communism in East-Central and Eastern Europe as well as the reasons for both the Soviet conquest of the related countries and for the collapse of Soviet domination and communist rule in these countries. The course also examines the reasons for success or failure in post-communist political and economic transitions in particular groups of post-communist states and encourages students to make an original and independent investigation on related topics. In particular, through their work in this course, students are expected to be able to:- understand and describe the geopolitical conditions in which the countries of East-Central and Eastern Europe fell under Soviet domination and communist rule after the Second World War,- understand and describe the nature and main characteristics of communist rule in the countries of East-Central and Eastern Europe during the period 1945-1989/91- develop an awareness of theoretical debates relating to the themes and topics examined,- define and analyse the main socio-economic and political causes of the collapse of communist rule in East-Central and Eastern Europe during the period 1989-1991- design and carry out an original independent investigation of the specific conditions which led to the overthrow of communist rule and the beginnings of post-communist political and economic transition in one or more countries of former Eastern Europe- critically analyse and present the results of their original investigation in writing and orally in student-led seminars.
Any 15 points at EURO 200-level, OR any 45 points with B average at 200-level in Arts, Commerce, Law, OR any 45 points with B average at 200-level with approval of the Course Coordinator
EURO226; HIST269; EURA226, EURA326
EURA326
Milenko Petrovic
Bideleux, Robert. , Jeffries, Ian; A history of Eastern Europe : crisis and change ; 2nd ed; Routledge, 2007.
Crampton, R. J; Eastern Europe in the twentieth century ; Routledge, 1994.
Further additional/optional readings are listed in the Course Outline.
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Domestic fee $1,340.00
International fee $5,700.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
For further information see Language, Social and Political Sciences .