The course focuses on political features of Central Europe. It introduces students to the concept of CE as a historically and culturally distinctive region (covering Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic) but also encourages critical thinking on whether the changeable concept of Central Europe stays relevant. The course aims to demonstrate the explanatory capacity of the main concepts of contemporary political sociology, looking at specific cases and current issues from the region. It covers a wide range of topics: civil society (NGOs, think tanks), public sphere and political claims-making, political culture, participation and trust, Europeanization and Euroscepticism, populism, nationalism, and migration.
The main objective of the course is to (1) make students familiar with the basic concepts of political sociology, (2) encourage them to take interest in the region of Central Europe but also (3) make them capable of making their own standpoints and critical reflections of the local affairs. The course consists of both lectures and seminars, combining frontal and interactive forms of learning. The reading list is designed to include a selection of both the classical and the most recent texts on CE.
- Teacher: Markéta Blažejovská
- Teacher: Petra Alexandra Honová