The Other Europe
lectures and extra notes from the books
Important terms
Lists
Extra notes about something non-substantively
Notes from the book
Hoorcollege 1 | 29 oct. 2019 Introduction
No book for this course, same texts for lectures as for seminars. Notes on these
texts to find back in “The Other Europe Seminars”
● Read the assigned background literature in preparation of the
lectures(available on canvas)
● In the beginning general overviews, later case studies illustrating some major
points made in the lectures
● Reading responses -answer questions! First set of questions content-related.
Briefly summarise factual information (bullet points)! Last question(s) require
discussion. Write short text.
● Submit one assignment on one topic per week in writing (paper > werkcollege;
e-copy > canvas). No more than two pages, double spaced!
● For werkcolleges, lecturers may assign additional tasks, for example reading
related primary sources.
● Slides of the powerpoints on canvas after the lecture, not before/during!
Study ‘Cold War’ Summaries High School!
Mental mapping
‘mental mapping’ as
● “abstraction that comprises cognitive and mental abilities that enable us to
collect, to store, to retrieve and to process information on the spatial
environment.”
A mental map thus…:
● “reflects the world in a way a human being believes it to be. It does not have
to be entirely correct. On the contrary, distortions are very likely...”
Mental maps vary as they are determined by individuals, but they are also “common
places” negotiated and disseminated in specific historical and cultural contexts.
→ Dealing with mental maps, we ought to pay attention not only to their contents, but
also to the acts of creation and reception.
,1989 Chain of Events:
Jun/Aug- Poland Elections, 1st non-Communist government (<>1980-1)
Sep- Hungary Cutting ‘Iron curtain’ and Round Table Talks
Nov- Berlin Breach in the Wall
Nov/Dec- Prague Demonstrations, government of ‘National Understanding’
Nov- Bulgaria Zhivkov resigns
Dec- Romania Street fighting, Ceausescu killed
Why 1989? Turning point: re-uniting Europe?
● Central Europe: EU membership in 2004
● Former Soviet Union (Eastern Europe): CIS, little prospects of EU integration
(except Baltic states)
● Balkans: Romania, Bulgaria: EU membership 2007-Former Yugoslavia,
Albania (‘Western Balkans’) –in the EU waiting room
Where is ‘Eastern Europe’? Political / geographical conventions:
1. Eastern Europe: Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, [Baltic States, Finland]
2. (East) Central Europe: Poland, Hungary, Czech R., Slovakia
3. South East Europe (“the Balkans”):Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Albania,
[Greece]
Regions like other geographical spaces are intellectual constructs, they reflect
certain circumstances and interest. The definition of borders and contact zones
changes over time.
Eastern European [Russian, Soviet] Studies emerged as a sub-field within European
[Area] studies on the basis of a political agenda: explaining otherness.
Besides political agendas there are pragmatic reasons (above all: centrality of
Slavonic languages), which facilitated the individual development of Eastern
European Studies as a sub-discipline
,Hoorcollege 2 | 01 nov. 2019 Communism
Socialism and Communism Historical Roots
Communism/Socialism:
Socialism:
- Is about industry and heavy industry. High on the agenda = industrialisation.
- Society based on equality, solidarity and social justice.
- Changes without a revolution
- Socialism is based on being social, looking after the weak. A system aimed at
a very high level of government input and solidarity for minority groups: the
disabled, the unemployed, etc
Communism:
- System in what you receive what you need.
- A classless society in which everything that is produced belongs to the state.
- No state had claimed to be communist. State had only claimed to be socialist
- Changes because of a revolution
- Communism is based on the commune, the community that shares
everything.
- Communism does not mean totalitarian, but it can easily slip into totalitarian
- A true communist should work on his/hers self! Should become as perfect as
possible.
- Monopoly of the communist party
Both don’t promote free-market economy.
Karl Marx, along with Friedrich Engels, one of the theoretical founders of socialism,
saw socialism as an intermediate phase between capitalism and communism.
Proletariat vs Bourgeoisie
1. Proletariat = The economic and social class consisting of industrial workers
who derive income solely from their labour
2. Bourgeoisie = the part of society, including employers and people who run
large companies, that has most of the money and takes advantage of ordinary
workers. The middle class who exploits proletarians. They have money and
invest it in order to make more money
, Revolution = a change in the way a country is governed, usually to a different
political system and often using violence or war
Means of Production = physical and non-financial inputs used in the production of
economic value. These include raw materials, facilities, machinery and tools used in
the production of goods and services. In the terminology of classical economics, the
means of production are the "factors of production" minus financial and human
capital.
The means of production includes two broad categories of objects:
1. Instruments of labor (tools, factories, infrastructure, etc.)
2. Subjects of labor (natural resources and raw materials).
Dictatorship of the proletariat = Dictatorship of the proletariat, in Marxism, rule by the
proletariat, during the transitional phase between the abolition of capitalism and the
establishment of communism. During this transition, the proletariat is to suppress
resistance to the socialist revolution by the bourgeoisie, destroy the social relations
of production underlying the class system, and create a new, classless society.
(ONE!) Party state = A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or
single-party system is a type of state in which one political party has the right to form
the government, usually based on the existing constitution.
Five-year plan = method of planning economic growth over limited periods, through
the use of quotas, used first in the Soviet Union and later in other socialist states.
Communism as a belief system. The citizens believing in the system, kind of
religious.
Internationalism and Nationalism.
- Internationalism: Comintern = communism-international. Known also as the
Third International (1919–1943), was an international organization that
advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second
Congress to "struggle by all available means, including armed force, for the
overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international
Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state".
The influence of international communism was very strong from the late 19th century
through the 1920s, the decades after that—beginning with socialism in one country
and progressing into the Cold War and the Non-Aligned Movement—made national
communism a larger political reality.
lectures and extra notes from the books
Important terms
Lists
Extra notes about something non-substantively
Notes from the book
Hoorcollege 1 | 29 oct. 2019 Introduction
No book for this course, same texts for lectures as for seminars. Notes on these
texts to find back in “The Other Europe Seminars”
● Read the assigned background literature in preparation of the
lectures(available on canvas)
● In the beginning general overviews, later case studies illustrating some major
points made in the lectures
● Reading responses -answer questions! First set of questions content-related.
Briefly summarise factual information (bullet points)! Last question(s) require
discussion. Write short text.
● Submit one assignment on one topic per week in writing (paper > werkcollege;
e-copy > canvas). No more than two pages, double spaced!
● For werkcolleges, lecturers may assign additional tasks, for example reading
related primary sources.
● Slides of the powerpoints on canvas after the lecture, not before/during!
Study ‘Cold War’ Summaries High School!
Mental mapping
‘mental mapping’ as
● “abstraction that comprises cognitive and mental abilities that enable us to
collect, to store, to retrieve and to process information on the spatial
environment.”
A mental map thus…:
● “reflects the world in a way a human being believes it to be. It does not have
to be entirely correct. On the contrary, distortions are very likely...”
Mental maps vary as they are determined by individuals, but they are also “common
places” negotiated and disseminated in specific historical and cultural contexts.
→ Dealing with mental maps, we ought to pay attention not only to their contents, but
also to the acts of creation and reception.
,1989 Chain of Events:
Jun/Aug- Poland Elections, 1st non-Communist government (<>1980-1)
Sep- Hungary Cutting ‘Iron curtain’ and Round Table Talks
Nov- Berlin Breach in the Wall
Nov/Dec- Prague Demonstrations, government of ‘National Understanding’
Nov- Bulgaria Zhivkov resigns
Dec- Romania Street fighting, Ceausescu killed
Why 1989? Turning point: re-uniting Europe?
● Central Europe: EU membership in 2004
● Former Soviet Union (Eastern Europe): CIS, little prospects of EU integration
(except Baltic states)
● Balkans: Romania, Bulgaria: EU membership 2007-Former Yugoslavia,
Albania (‘Western Balkans’) –in the EU waiting room
Where is ‘Eastern Europe’? Political / geographical conventions:
1. Eastern Europe: Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, [Baltic States, Finland]
2. (East) Central Europe: Poland, Hungary, Czech R., Slovakia
3. South East Europe (“the Balkans”):Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Albania,
[Greece]
Regions like other geographical spaces are intellectual constructs, they reflect
certain circumstances and interest. The definition of borders and contact zones
changes over time.
Eastern European [Russian, Soviet] Studies emerged as a sub-field within European
[Area] studies on the basis of a political agenda: explaining otherness.
Besides political agendas there are pragmatic reasons (above all: centrality of
Slavonic languages), which facilitated the individual development of Eastern
European Studies as a sub-discipline
,Hoorcollege 2 | 01 nov. 2019 Communism
Socialism and Communism Historical Roots
Communism/Socialism:
Socialism:
- Is about industry and heavy industry. High on the agenda = industrialisation.
- Society based on equality, solidarity and social justice.
- Changes without a revolution
- Socialism is based on being social, looking after the weak. A system aimed at
a very high level of government input and solidarity for minority groups: the
disabled, the unemployed, etc
Communism:
- System in what you receive what you need.
- A classless society in which everything that is produced belongs to the state.
- No state had claimed to be communist. State had only claimed to be socialist
- Changes because of a revolution
- Communism is based on the commune, the community that shares
everything.
- Communism does not mean totalitarian, but it can easily slip into totalitarian
- A true communist should work on his/hers self! Should become as perfect as
possible.
- Monopoly of the communist party
Both don’t promote free-market economy.
Karl Marx, along with Friedrich Engels, one of the theoretical founders of socialism,
saw socialism as an intermediate phase between capitalism and communism.
Proletariat vs Bourgeoisie
1. Proletariat = The economic and social class consisting of industrial workers
who derive income solely from their labour
2. Bourgeoisie = the part of society, including employers and people who run
large companies, that has most of the money and takes advantage of ordinary
workers. The middle class who exploits proletarians. They have money and
invest it in order to make more money
, Revolution = a change in the way a country is governed, usually to a different
political system and often using violence or war
Means of Production = physical and non-financial inputs used in the production of
economic value. These include raw materials, facilities, machinery and tools used in
the production of goods and services. In the terminology of classical economics, the
means of production are the "factors of production" minus financial and human
capital.
The means of production includes two broad categories of objects:
1. Instruments of labor (tools, factories, infrastructure, etc.)
2. Subjects of labor (natural resources and raw materials).
Dictatorship of the proletariat = Dictatorship of the proletariat, in Marxism, rule by the
proletariat, during the transitional phase between the abolition of capitalism and the
establishment of communism. During this transition, the proletariat is to suppress
resistance to the socialist revolution by the bourgeoisie, destroy the social relations
of production underlying the class system, and create a new, classless society.
(ONE!) Party state = A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or
single-party system is a type of state in which one political party has the right to form
the government, usually based on the existing constitution.
Five-year plan = method of planning economic growth over limited periods, through
the use of quotas, used first in the Soviet Union and later in other socialist states.
Communism as a belief system. The citizens believing in the system, kind of
religious.
Internationalism and Nationalism.
- Internationalism: Comintern = communism-international. Known also as the
Third International (1919–1943), was an international organization that
advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second
Congress to "struggle by all available means, including armed force, for the
overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international
Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state".
The influence of international communism was very strong from the late 19th century
through the 1920s, the decades after that—beginning with socialism in one country
and progressing into the Cold War and the Non-Aligned Movement—made national
communism a larger political reality.
