Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Final Assignment!


For your final project I would like you to write a paper concerning the post-socialist transformation that your state is currently progressing through. For this project you should discuss the following topics:

A Recap of the Communist Era

  • What was life like under communism in your country? Was the political situation as harsh and hopeless as it was in other Central-East European states?
  • Were there any distinctions about communism in your country that were not covered in our readings or the films we watched in class? If so, what were they?
  • What industries did your state heavily participate in – did it “specialize” in any industries under communism?

A Summary of the Ongoing Transformation

  • How has the post-communist transformation proceeded in your countries?
  • What political challenges or hurdles have occurred since the collapse of the Iron Curtain?
  • What economic challenges have arisen? How has your state attempted to privatize all of the wealth in their countries?
  • What role has direct foreign investment (FDI) played in the economic development of your state?
  • How has your state acted geopolitically since the collapse of the Iron Curtain? What organizations and states has it aligned itself with? How have its alliances, allies, and disposition toward neighbors and the world community changed and evolved since 1989/91?
  • How have nationalist sentiments manifested themselves since the collapse of the socialist ideal? How has nationalism influenced your state’s post-socialist development – if at all?

Final Product

You will turn in a seven-to-ten (6-8) page paper, double-spaced, 12-point serif font, that covers these questions. You should have at least three academic sources (books or journal articles) and 12 sources total (e.g., magazine, newspaper, or online news agency articles). Up to two encyclopedic sources can count toward your 12 sources (e.g., Wikipedia, CIA World Factbook, etc.). If you have any questions or trouble finding your sources, let me know early on.

Due
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 by 5pm.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Two more readings for the middle of next week.

Please read the two chapters entitled by the middle of next week:

  • What was Socialism/Communism?
  • Want to Control People?

I hope you enjoy the Drakulic book and I look forward to discussing it with you all on Friday!

Best,

Ian

Monday, March 17, 2008

Kosovo Erupting


Of course, this has to happen while we are on Spring Break:

UN troops are withdrawing from Serbian towns due to rioting and injuries to French soldiers. This reminds me of "No Man's Land" in a way. Could be interesting to keep an eye on if you are not in Playa del Carmen.

Story here.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Film Next Week: "No Man's Land"


Dear Class:

Because you were such good sports this past week with my swapping things around on you, we are going to watch a film this week before we discuss Peter Maass. The film is called "No Man's Land." It won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2002. It is about the Bosnian War but rather than emphasizing the brutality of the war itself, it analyzes the situation with a distinctly dark, absurdist Central European perspective. We will begin watching this film on Monday and finish it on Wednesday. I need a volunteer to lead discussion about the film and the Maass reading for Friday.

Also, you should attempt to finish the Ian Buruma book by next week (let's say have it done by the 10th, but we may not discuss it until the 12th or 14th of March.

Finally, your map test will be the week before Spring Break. I am loath to have you take it on a Friday. So which of the two days would you prefer -- Monday or Wednesday? We should discuss this in class tomorrow.

I hope you are all having a good weekend!

Prost,

Ian

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Friday, February 15, 2008

My apologies for getting this up so late. Please have this information ready to discuss briefly on Monday. Also type up your answers in bullet form on your blog via a "post."

Demographic information such as population data, language, religion, and economic info
History of the state and history of the dominant nation(s) in the state
Famous people from that state
Cultural arts, traditions, and traits associated with the nation(s) in that state
States / Nations that your state has historically aligned itself with or had conflicts with
Larger institutions that your state currently belongs to (e.g., UN, NATO, WTO, etc.)

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Balkan War III


Kosovo may be thrown into civil war on the first day of its independence this weekend. Watch out... this seriously could turn into a very nasty, perhaps genocidal, situation. All eyes on Kosovo this weekend. We will talk about it on Monday.

Story from IHT.

Oh, and Putin has called Kosovar independence "immoral." Not quite sure if he explains why, though.

Story from the Guardian here.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Secularism versus Religion in Europe


Interesting story today on the BBC. Many Danish newspapers today reprinted the cartoon of Muhammad that sparked worldwide protests several years ago. They did so purposefully as a sign of solidarity for freedom of speech over intolerant religious censorship.

Regardless of where you stand on this issue -- though I certainly hope you stand for free speech over the right for religious groups to decide what is okay to say and what is not, as otherwise I would be forced to lecture that the world is flat -- this will be something to keep our eyes on this semester. I reckon someone in Denmark will be killed for this action -- if not the cartoonist in hiding, an editor or two. (Let's hope not, though.)

Here is the short BBC story. If anyone wants to see the cartoons that sparked such violent outbursts among millions of people who never even saw the cartoons themselves but merely heard about them, you can type "muhammed cartoon" into Wikipedia.

Speaking of... Wikipedia is now under attack by certain Muslim organizations for having ancient mosaic tile pictures of Muhammad made in the year 1200 AD on their website. The organization running Wikipedia has been threatened as well. This is getting very interesting!

The whole thing kind of reminds me of tourists in Pennsylvania who, without thinking, snap a picture of the Amish in their carriages on the road. The Amish believe you will go to hell or something if your picture is taken. So they get pretty irate if they catch you with a camera out... but luckily they don't kill you, because they are practicing pacifists. They just chew you out in ancient German.

Friday, February 8, 2008

NATO arms race with Russia. Putin: "Bring it on!"


Here is an interesting tidbit from the BBC today about how Putin is saber-rattling with NATO countries again. He is already flying nuclear bombers 24-hours a day, but his recent statement seem even more interesting for the long term.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Belarussian Dance

An example of the amazing local footage you can find from different countries on YouTube. A former student of mine from Belarus tipped me off to this!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

The Second Cold War


Someone mentioned this in class yesterday, and I thought it was a nice phrase. Low and behold, today the Russians are saber rattling again. This time over a tiny province that until 1998 was largely unheard of outside of the Balkans. Check out a brief article on the situation here. Kosovo might be a fun state to follow this semester, seeing as they are expected to declare independence from Serbia and perhaps be invaded before May. This could be the EU's first official war if the Russians jump in. History unfolding before our eyes -- now we just have to figure out how to analyze it spatially!

Cheers,

Ian

Monday, January 28, 2008

Post-First Class Review

Great to meet you all today. I am enthused about this class. You seem like a lively bunch!

Again, if you have any suggestions or recommendations for material you would like to see added, please let me know and we will try to squeeze it in. We may even toss out some stuff.

Again, for the required readings, please buy:

T.R. Reid's "United States of Europe"
Slavenka Drakulic "How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed"
Ian Buruma "Murder in Amsterdam"

If you bought "Love Thy Neighbor" and can't return it or don't want the hassle, I will buy you a soda if you keep it. It will still come in handy. You can do one of your papers on it. It is a stellar book and we will be reading excerpts from it throughout the semester. Definitely worth adding to your collection!

I will see you all on Wednesday.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

So caffeinated I can't stand still!!!

Welcome to the Post-Soviet blogosphere!

This is the site where I will post readings, provide links to random, tangential crazy news items from Europe, and provide study materials from time-to-time.

For networking and posting questions, please do not use this site. This site is my unilateral communication channel. Please post questions or comments or weird new items that you come across on the course Facebook page. You should receive an invitation to join the group within a week of classes beginning. If not, please email me and I will hook you up. Thanks! I look forward to getting to know you all soon.