Valerie Bunce
204 White Hall
5-6359
Vjb2@cornell.edu
Office Hours:
T: 10:30-12:30
Government 336: Postcommunist Transitions
Introduction: The purpose of this course is to analyze the dramatic changes that have
taken place in postcommunist Europe and Eurasia since the end of the Cold War and the
collapse of communism and communist states from 1989-1992. It is a huge region—28
states, with yet another in formation (Kosovo). These 28 states feature enormous
diversity with respect to level of economic development, regime type, and political
stability. Because of a shared communist past and often a shared state in the past (23 of
the 28 states only date from the end of communism), yet such diverse trajectories since
that time, this region provides ideal conditions for comparative analysis of important
questions. For example, who are some of these states democracies, but others
authoritarian; why have regimes “in the middle” (that is, those that combine authoritarian
and democratic features) at the beginning of the transition moved in very different
political directions; what have been the costs and benefits of establishing capitalist
orders; and why did the formation of new regimes and new states lead in some cases to
wars between or within states?
We begin the course with debates about why communism ended and some states in the
region dissolved. We then move directly to the transition. Here, our discussions will be
divided into two parts. We will start by laying out a larger framework for the
transition—in particular, the key issues on the table and macro-variations across the
region in state responses to those issues. We will then explore some more targeted issues
by reading and discussing some important recent books on aspects of the transition.
These books vary in both the questions addressed and the cases used to address them. To
facilitate our discussions, I have invited several of the authors to attend a session where
we discuss their book.
Format. The class will combine lectures and discussion, with full-class discussions
taking place approximately every three sessions. The lectures will be informal. I will
welcome, therefore, questions as I move through the material. The focus on books, rather
than articles, and scholarly work, rather than textbooks, means that the lectures are
extremely important. They will provide the background students need to engage the
assigned books.
Evaluation. There will be an early in-class midterm composed of choices among several
sets of essays (25%); a critical review of one of the assigned books (30%); and a take-
home essay final (45%). Students who are avid participants will receive a boost for their
contributions.
Books: All are available at the Cornell Store.
1. Valerie Bunce, Subversive Institutions: The Design and the Destruction of
Socialism and the State. (Cambridge University Press, 1999). ISBN: 0-52158592-9.
2. Thomas de Waal, Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and
War (New York University Press, 2003). ISBN: 0-8147-1945-7
3. M. Steven Fish, Democracy Derailed in Russia: The Failure of Open Politics.
(Cambridge University Press, 2005). ISBN: 0-521-61896-7.
4. V.P. Gagnon, The Myth of Ethnic War: Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s. (Cornell
University Press, 2006). ISBN: 978-0-8014-7291-6
5. David Ost, The Defeat of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Postcommunist
Europe. (Cornell University Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-8014-7343-2
6. Sharon L. Wolchik and Jane L. Curry, eds., Central and East European Politics:
From Communism to Democracy. (Rowman and Littlefield, 2007). ISBN: 9780-7425-4068-2.
Schedule
January 22-Feb. 5: Overview of the History of the Region. In these sessions, we will
address three questions: what was communism, why did it end, and why was regime
transition accompanied in three cases by the dissolution of the state (the Soviet Union,
Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia)?
1. Valerie Bunce, Subversive Institutions (Cambridge University Press, 1999).
February 7-27: Setting the Stage for the Transition. What do we mean when we speak of
postcommunist transitions? What are the key problems associated with establishing
democracy and capitalism? How does nationalism relate to political and economic
regime change? What explains the extraordinary diversity of political and economic
regime trajectories? What has the transition involved in specific countries?
1. Sharon Wolchik and Jane Curry, eds., Central and East European Politics:
From Communism to Democracy, Chs. 1-4, 6-7, 8, 10-12, 13, 15.