• Stepanenko Viktor

• Stepanenko Viktor

Ukraine and Eastern Europe: peculiarities of socio-political development

Teacher: Prof. Viktor Stepanenko

Language: English

Course load: (14 teaching hours)

Time:   19-20 November 2021

Course description

In the 30-years period from the wave of anti-communist democratic revolutions in eastern Europe and after the USSR breakdown former communist countries have passed complex transformations which are various in their results. Some of these countries (central European and Baltic republics) have mostly successfully completed their post-communist transitions and became the EU members. But former Soviet eastern European countries (Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and Russia) are still undergoing their complex transformations with different political trajectories.  The case of Ukraine is particularly interesting because it combines the features of typical post-communist democratization, cultural and psychological inertia of Soviet institutional legacy and some political peculiarities, including territorial geopolitical conflict and the war, ongoing nation-state building, mass citizens’ protest movements (“maidans”) and others. The aim of this course is to analyze the nature, dynamics and peculiarities of post-Soviet transformation, based mostly on the case of Ukraine and comparing it to other eastern European cases (Belarus, Russia, Moldova) in various socio-political aspects: variations of regime, the state of democracy and institutional efficiency, civil society and protest movements etc. The course aims at broadening the scope and understanding of important and general political processes in this European region, and to understand major trends that shape politics in Ukraine and the region. The conflicts and wars in this region, particularly the war in Ukraine’s Donbas, might be considered as the result of geopolitical and cultural split between Russia (and the “Russian world”) and the West (the EU, USA, NATO). The course will focus on the ways and implications in which Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus are affected by these geopolitical tensions.

Through addressing these questions, the course seeks to introduce students to the most important issues shaping the politics of eastern European post-Soviet region.

Course objectives

By the end of the course, students should be able:

• to have a broad overview of key historical and political developments in eastern European post-Soviet countries (Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and Russia) in the period 1991-2021;
• to evaluate the political processes in the region using the comparative method when they study politics;
• to provide students with a knowledge on peculiarities of eastern European post-Soviet countries;
• to encourage students to develop a critical appreciation of the benefits and shortcomings of theories, concepts, and categories from political science when applied to the study of East European region;
• to provide opportunities for students to conduct independent research, understanding and critiquing complex arguments, analytical reasoning, academic writing, and working independently or with a team to present their arguments verbally;
• identify and make valid comparisons between different eastern European post-Soviet countries, using empirical evidences and sociological data.

Course Requirements (Assessment)

Performance control and the course assessment will combine 3 elements, as follows:

Individual engagement and activity during the course

30%

In-class presentation

30%

Final essay (about 2000 words) - to be submitted by December 14, 2021 via e-mail to ukraine.essay@gmail.com

40%

Gemäss Beschreibung