131-031 The Crisis Zones of Europe

Usually 25 points of first year history, see Prerequisites, or first year European studies: Prerequisites.

This subject examines the modern history of East Central Europe from the partitions of Poland to the Kosovo war of 1999. Its focus is Poland, Hungary, the former Czechoslovakia and the former Yugoslavia. It traces the conflicts in these countries between reform and revolution, between human rights and state sovereignty, between democracy and dictatorship. It analyses the impact of imperial domination and of the struggle against that domination. It poses questions about the relative importance of socioeconomic conditions and 'national consciousness' in shaping the region's development. It also seeks to provoke discussion about 'Orientalist' representations of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, from the Enlightenment to the Cold War and beyond. On completion of the course, students should possess a broad understanding of the history of the region, and a critical awareness of how that history itself has become a focus of struggle.