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The University of Oklahoma

HISTORY 4973, sect. 2 
 
Senior Seminar:  THE FALL OF EAST EUROPEAN
COMMUNISM

Spring semester 1994                                        Dr. Gary Cohen
Office hours:                                               314 Dale Tower
    Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00-10:15 a.m.,                ph. 325-6352
or
    Tuesdays, 1:00-2:15 p.m.,                                 325-6002
(sec.)
    Wednesdays, 12:45-1:20 p.m.,
    and by appointment


  The following required books are available in paperback and are
recommended

     Judy Batt, EAST CENTRAL EUROPE FROM REFORM TO TRANSFORMATION (Council
on
          Foreign Relations, 1991)
     J. F. Brown, SURGE TO FREEDOM:  THE END OF COMMUNIST RULE IN EASTERN
          EUROPE (Duke Univ. Press, 1991)
     Charles Gati, THE BLOC THAT FAILED (Indiana Univ. Press, 1990)
     Lyman H. Legters, ed., EASTERN EUROPE:  TRANSFORMATION & REVOLUTION,
1945-
          1991 (D. C. Heath, 1992)
     Joseph Rothschild, RETURN TO DIVERSITY, 2nd ed. (Oxford Univ. Press,
1993)

  The required readings also include a small group of articles, which are 
  available from the circulation desk at the University Library

Topics and Reading Assignments for Each Class Meeting


Week 1 - Jan 12 - INTRODUCTION

Week 2 - Jan 19 - EASTERN EUROPE IN THE 2Oth CENTURY:  FRAGMENTATION AND
                         DEPENDENCE

     Rothschild, Return to Diversity, pp. 3-75.

Week 3 - Jan 26 - COMMUNISM IN THEORY AND PRACTICE:  THE SOVIET AND EAST
               EUROPEAN EXPERIENCES

     Rothschild, Return, pp. 76-146;  Gati, Bloc that Failed, preface &
pp. 
        3-28
     Europe, pp. 1-19, 65-84.

Week 4 - Feb 2 - LEGITIMACY, STABILITY, & CRISES IN COMMUNIST EASTERN
EUROPE

     Rothschild, Return, pp. 147-190;   Gati, Bloc, pp. 29-62;  Legters,
     Eastern Europe, pp. 19-23, 115-34, 150-67, 182-92, 206-22, 235-47.

Week 5 - Feb 9 - PROBLEMS OF ECONOMY AND SOCIETY

     Rothschild, Return, pp. 191-211;  Batt, East Central Europe, pp.
1-21;
          pp. 85-101, 193-205, 223-226, 231-234, 248-295;
     Joni Lovenduski and Jean Woodall, Politics and Society in Eastern
Europe,
          pp. 183-192 (XEROX in packet)

Week 6 - Feb 16 - DOING HISTORICAL RESEARCH:  SOME TIPS

Week 7 - Feb 23 - IMMOBILE REGIMES AND POPULAR DISCONTENT

     Rothschild, Return, pp. 211-25;  Gati, Bloc, pp. 65-157;  Legters,
     Eastern Europe, pp. 24-49, 135-144, 352-364, 395-405;  V clav Havel,
     Living in Truth, pp. 41-43, 50-59, 62-63, 76-77, 84-88 (XEROX).

Week 8 - Mar 2 - DISINTEGRATION IN POLAND AND HUNGARY:  THE EMERGENCE OF
               CIVIL SOCIETY

     Rothschild, Return, pp. 226-234, 238-244; Batt, East Central Europe,
pp.
     22-37;  Brown, Surge to Freedom, pp. 1-123;  Theda Skocpol, States
and
     Social Revolutions, pp. 3-43 (XEROX); Legters, Eastern Europe, pp.
299-
     321, 426-453;

Week 9 - Mar 16 - DEAD-END OF THE HARDLINERS: EAST GERMANY AND
               CZECHOSLOVAKIA

     Rothschild, Return, pp. 234-38; Batt, East Central Europe, pp. 38-42; 
     Brown and Legters, Eastern Europe, pp. 345-51, 364-77, 406-416.

Week 10 - Mar 23 - THE REVOLUTIONS THAT WEREN'T:  ROMANIA AND BULGARIA

     Rothschild, Return, pp. 244-253;  J. F. Brown, Surge, pp. 181-220;
     Legters, Eastern Europe, pp. 456-523.

Week 11 - Mar 30 - THE GREAT POWERS THAT WEREN'T AND THE YUGOSLAV TANGLE

     Gati, Bloc, pp. 161-219 (including appendix);  Fareed Zakaria, "The
     Reagan Strategy of Containment"(XEROX); Rothschild, Return, pp.
253-65;
     Brown, Surge, pp. 221-245; Legters, Eastern Europe, pp. 535-578.

Week 12 - Apr 6 - THE PROBLEMS OF REBUILDING GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY

     Batt, East Central Europe, pp. 43-104;  Brown, Surge, pp. 246-269; 
     Legters, 419-425, 580-586, 603-605, 612-28, 635-643.

Week 13 - Apr 13 - EXAMINATION ON COMMON READINGS (Bring blue book[s]!)

Week 14 - Apr 20 - Major Field Achievement Test (for history majors).

Week 15 - Apr 27 - CLASS MEETING:  discussion of drafts of papers.


Final Version of Research Paper Due - 3:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 3, 1994 -
(no extensions!)

Course Format and Requirements

     The class meetings will be devoted to seminar discussions of the 
     issues.

     During the semester, members of the class will be asked either 
individually or as a group to speak on various problems raised in the 
readings.  Each member of the class will in the course of the semester to 
write ONE short paper (approx. 6 pp.) on a particular subject from the
readings for a particular week, which will be due in class on the day for 
which the readings are assigned.

     One essay-type examination will be given on Wednesay, April 13, 
covering the readings and the lectures.

   The principal written assignment of the course will be an independent
research paper.

     a) topic - Each member of the class will define a tentative topic in 
          class.
     b) prospectus and working bibliography - A 1-2-page discussion of the
          significance, relevant sub-issues, and general research
approach.
     c) rough draft of paper and full bibliography - due in Dr. Cohen's
mail 
          box, Main Office, no later than 3:00 p.m., Friday, April 22
     d) final version of paper - due in Dr. Cohen's mail box, Dept. of
History,
          Tuesday, May 3 (no extensions!).

The research paper will account for approximately 40% of the final course 
grade, 30%, the short weekly papers for approximately 20%, and class 
participation for interest to meet the deadlines for submitting the 
prospectus, rough draft, and final version.

     Feel free to ask questions during class, before or after class
sessions.
.