Interpreting Contemporary Nationalism in Southeastern Europe

COURSE SYLLABUS

INTERPRETING CONTEMPORARY NATIONALISM IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

Instructor : Florian Bieber Nationalism Studies Central European University Spring 2017 MA # Credits (# ECTS Credits) Course e-learning site: Office hours: by appointment

Course Description This course will explore different aspects of nationalism in Southeastern Europe. Focusing on former Yugoslavia, the course will also include case studies and discussions on other countries of the Balkans. Following a historical introduction, the class will mostly consider different aspects of nationalism in the social and political development of the past 20 years, ranging from causes of the wars in former Yugoslavia to the role of religion, gender, organized crime and democracy. As a 2-credit course, it is design to first discuss each aspect on a theoretical and general level, followed by specific cases studies drawn from the region. The purpose of the course is to advance the student’s knowledge of Southeast Europe and to apply different aspects of nationalism studies to this region. The focus on Southeastern Europe is not to suggest that the reason constitute a particularity or even exception in understanding nationalism. Phenomena discussed in class will be applicable to other countries and regions around the world.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Engage critically with different theories of nationalism and ethnic conflict; • Understand the dissolution process of Yugoslavia; • Be familiar with nationalism in Southeastern Europe, in particular in former Yugoslavia;

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• Engage with different disciplinary approaches to the study of nationalism

Course Requirements Students are expected to be present and participate in the classes. Required readings will be assigned for each class. Every student has to introduce one book to class. Every class has one book available for review. Students are expected to present the book in a short presentation (approx. 15 min.) and a handout, detailing the main argument and offering a critical analysis (including: main hypothesis, key arguments, structure of the argument, notable information, what might surprise the reader, specific comments and finally a critical examination of the arguments and questions for discussion). The main requirement is a seminar paper (4,000-6,000 words, ca. 15-20 pages, double- spaced with footnotes). The paper can focus on any aspect covered in the course. The paper can either focus the more theoretical aspects of the class and develop them further or apply the theories to a particular case (or several). Students are encouraged to examine a case other then the country of origin. Before starting to write the paper, the topic has to be agreed upon with me. Grading will be based on participation in class (10 %), the hand-out and presentation of the book (30 %), as well as the final paper (60 %).

COURSE SCHEDULE

2.3.2017

1. Introduction. Historical Background Besides an overview over the topics to be discussed during the course, the class will briefly examine some of the main trends in the development of nationalism in Southeastern Europe from the 19 th century to the end of World War Two. The two key aspects are the revolutionary aspect of the nationalist movements towards the multinational empires of the region, as well as the nature of the newly emerging nation states in the region.

Mandatory Reading : • Mark Mazower, The Balkans. A Short History (New York: Modern Library, 2002), pp. 113-143. • Ivo Banac, The National Question in Yugoslavia. Origins, History, Politics (Cornell University Press: Ithaca/London 1994), 406-416.

Suggested Readings: • John Lampe, Yugoslavia as History. Twice there was a Country (Cambridge: CUP, 2001).

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• Jelavich, Charles & Barbara Jelvavich, The Establishment of the Balkan National States, 1804-1920 (Seattle/London: University of Washington Press, 1993). • Barbara Jelavich, History of the Balkans. Vol. 2, Twentieth Century (Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 106-246. • Stevan Pavlowitch, A History of the Balkans. 1804-1945 (New York/London: Longman, 1999), pp. 162-330.

Books for Review: • Ivo Banac, The National Question in Yugoslavia. Origins, History, Politics (Ithaca/London: Cornell University Press, 1994). • Edin Hajdarspahic, Whose Bosnia? Nationalism and Political Imagination in the Balkans, 1840-1914 (Ithaca/London: Cornell University Press, 2015).

3.3.2017 2. Nationalism in the Communism Era

The class will examine the role of nationalism under communist rule. The focus of the class will be both the theoretical stance of Communism towards nationalism and the reality in a number of cases. In a number of cases, nationalism served as a supplementary legitimizing tool for communists regimes in their attempt to bolster declining support. Particular examples under discussion include Romanian nationalism in the Ceau ecu era, as well as the period of national revival in Bulgaria.

Mandatory Readings • John D. Bell, “The ‘Revival Process’: The Turkish and Pomak Minorities in Bulgarian Politics,” Thanasis D. Sfikas and Christopher Williams (eds.) Ethnicity and Nationalism in East Central Europe and the Balkans (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999), 237-268. • Katherine Verdery, Why National Ideology under Socialism? Gerasimos Augustinos (ed.), The National Idea in Eastern Europe (Lexington & Toronto: D.C. Heath, 1996), 109-117.

Suggested Readings • Tom Gallagher, Outcast Europe: The Balkans, 1789-1989 (London: Routledge, 2001), 227-277. • Walker Connor, The National Question in Marxist-Leninist Theory and Strategy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984). • Isa Blumi, “The Politics of Culture and Power: The Roots of Hoxha's Postwar State,” East European Quarterly (Fall, 1997): 409-428. • Milena Mahon, “The Turkish Minority under Communist Bulgaria-Politics of Ethnicity and Power,” Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans 1, no. 2 (November 1999), 149-162.

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Books for Review • Katherine Verdery, National Ideology under Socialism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991). • Sabrina Ramet, Nationalism and Federalism in Yugoslavia, 1962-1991 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992).

3.3.2017 3. Myths and Symbols

The importance of myths and symbols has been well documents in national movements. The class shall study the reevaluation of national histories and the creation of myths and symbols in the Post-Communist period. The key examples here are the use of the legacy of World War 2 in Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia and the contested symbols of Macedonia.

Mandatory Readings • Anna Di Lellio, Stephanie Schwander-Sievers, “The Legendary Commander: The Construction of an Albanian Master-Narrative in post-War Kosovo,“ Nations and Nationalism , Vol. 12, No. 3 (2006), 513-529. • Florian Bieber. “Nationalist Mobilization and Stories of Serb Suffering,” Rethinking History 6:1 (2002), pp. 95–110 • Anastas Vangeli, “Nation-building ancient Macedonian style: the origins and the effects of the so-called antiquization in Macedonia,” Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity , 39:1 (2011), 13-32.

Suggested Readings • Geoffrey Hosking, George Schöpflin (eds), Myths and Nationhood (New York: Routledge, 1997). • Stephanie Schwander-Sievers, Bernd J. Fischer, Albanian Identities. Myth and History (London: Hurst, 2002). • Maria Todorova (ed.), Balkan Identities. Nations and Memory (New York: NYU Press, 2004).

Books for Review • Bruce MacDonald, Balkan holocausts? Serbian and Croatian Propaganda and the War in Yugoslavia (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003). • Keith Brown, The Past in Question. Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of the Nation (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2003) • Julie Mertus, Kosovo How Myths and Truths Started a War (Berkeley and LA: University of California Press, 1999)

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9.3.2017 4. Nationalism from above or below?

As a flexible ideology, nationalism has numerous ways of expressing itself. Scholars have advanced different interpretations to the origins of nationalist movements. Some have argued that these movements were largely shaped by cultural, academic and political elites, while others have sought to emphasis the existence of strong nationalist sentiments among the population prior to mobilization from elites.

Mandatory Readings • Xavier Bougarel, “Yugoslav Wars: The `Revenge of the Countryside' Between Sociological Reality and Nationalist Myth,” East European Quarterly , Vol. 33, No. 2, (Summer 1999) pp. 157-175. • Ana Devi ć, “Ethnonationalism, Politics, and the Intellectuals: The Case of Yugoslavia,” International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society , Vol. 11, No. 3 (1998), pp. 375-409. • V.P. Gagnon, Jr. “Ethnic Conflict and International Conflict. The Case of Serbia,” Michael E. Brown et al. (eds.) Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict (Cambridge Ma./London: MIT Press, 1997), pp. 132-167.

Suggested Readings • Andrei Simi ć, “Nationalism as Folk Ideology. The Case of Former Yugoslavia,” Joel M. Halpern, David A. Kideckel (eds.) Neighbors at War: Anthropological Perspectives on Yugoslav Ethnicity, Culture and History (University Park, Pa.: Penn State University Press, 2000), pp. 103- 115. • Nebojša Vladisavlejvi ć, “Nationalism, Social Movement Theory and the Grass Roots Movement of Kosovo Serbs, 1985–1988,” Europe-Asia Studies , Vol. 54, No. 5, 2002, 771–790.

Books for Review • Nebojsa Vladisavljevic, Serbia's Antibureaucratic Revolution: Milosevic,the Fall of Communism, and Nationalist Mobilization (London: Palgrave, 2008). • Jasna Dragovic-Soso, Saviours of the Nation. Serbia’s Intellectual Opposition and the Revival of Nationalism (London: Hurst, 2002). • Loring Danforth, The Macedonian Conflict. Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995).

10.3.2017 5. The Causes of Yugoslavia’s Disintegration

The disintegration of Yugoslavia has been explained by a number of different theories. Each of them relates differently to the role of nationalism in the country. Here the different theories and core controversies will be examined.

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Mandatory Readings • Dejan Jovi ć, “The Disintegration of Yugoslavia: A Critical Review of Explanatory Approaches” European Journal of Social Theory , Vol. 4, No. 1 (2001), pp. 101-120. • Valerie Bunce, “Peaceful versus Violent State Dismemberment: A Comparison of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia,” Politics and Society , Vol. 27, No. 2 (1999), pp. 217-237. • Jasna Dragovic-Soso, Why did Yugslavia Disintegrate? An Overview of Contending Explanaitions, , Lenard J. Cohen and Jasna Dragovic-Soso, eds., State Collapse in South-Eastern Europe. New Perspectives on Yugoslavia’s Disintegration , West Lafayette, Indiana, 2008, pp. 1-43.

Suggested Readings • Ivo Banac, “Post-Communism and Post-Yugoslavism: The Yugoslav Non- Revolutions of 1989-1990,” Ivo Banac (Ed.), Eastern Europe in Revolution (Ithaca/London: Cornell University Press, 1992), pp. 168-187. • Robert M. Hayden, “Moralizing about Scholarship about Yugoslavia,” East European Politics & Societies , Vol. 21, No. 1 (2007), pp. 182-193. • Sabrina P. Ramet, “A Review of One Chapter: An Example of Irresponsible Self- Indulgence,” East European Politics & Societies , Vol. 21, No. 1 (2007), pp. 194- 203. • Robert M. Hayden, “Reply to Ramet,” East European Politics & Societies (2007)Vol. 21, No. 1 (2007), p. 204.

Books for Review • Valerie Bunce, Subversive Institutions, The Design and the Destruction of Socialism and the State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999). • Dejan Jovic, Yugoslavia: A State that Withered Away (West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2009).

10.3.2017 6. The Causes of Ethnic War

In this class, different explanations for the war in former Yugoslavia will be examined. The varying approaches largely follow from the discussions in the previous class on theories of the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

Mandatory Readings • Anthony Oberschall, “The Manipulation of Ethnicity: From Ethnic Cooperation to Violence and War in Yugoslavia,” Ethnic and Racial Studies , Vol. 23, No. 6 (November 2000), pp. 982–1001. • Roger D. Petersen, Understanding Ethnic Violence. Fear, Hatred, and Resentment in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe . Cambridge: CUP, 2002, pp. 208-253.

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• Josip Glaurdic, “Inside the Serbian War Machine. The Miloševic´ Telephone Intercepts, 1991-1992,” East European Politics and Societies , Vol. 23 No. 1 (February 2009), pp. 86-104.

Suggested Readings • Stuart J. Kaufman, Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War (Ithaca- London: Cornell University Press, 2001), 165-202. • Vesna Peši ć, Serbian Nationalism and the Origins of the Yugoslav Crisis (Washington: USIP, 1995), www.usip.org/oc/sr/pesic/pesic3.html . • Cornelia Sorabji, A very modern War, in H. Watson and R. Hinde eds. War: a cruel necessity: the bases of institutionalised violence (London/New York, I.B. Tauris, 1994).

Books for Review: • Ivana Ma ček, Sarajevo under siege: anthropology in wartime (Philadelphia: UPenn Press, 2009).

17.3.2017 7. Gender and Nationalism This class will examine the links between gender and nationalism, focusing on issues such as war time sexual violence and cult of masculinity of nationalist movements.

Mandatory Readings • Aleksandra Sasha Milicevic, “Joining the war: Masculinity, nationalism and war participation in the Balkans war of secession, 1991-1995,” Nationalities Papers , Vol. 34, No. 3 (2006), pp. 265-287. • Stef Jansen, Elissa Helms, “The white plague: national-demographic rhetoric and its gendered resonance after the post-Yugoslav wars” in: Eifler C. & Seifert R. (eds) Gender Dynamics and Post-Conflict Reconstruction. Frankfurt: Lang, 2009, 219-243. • Wendy Bracewell, “Rape in Kosovo: Masculinity and Serbian Nationalism,” Nations and Nationalism , Vol. 6, No. 4 (2000), pp. 563-90.

Suggested Reading

• Ivan Čolovi ć, The Politics of Symbol in Serbia (London: Hurst, 2002), pp. 48-56. • Vesna Nikoli ć-Ristanovi ć, “War, Nationalism, and Mothers in the Former Yugoslavia,” Lois Ann Lorentzen and Jennifer E. Turpin, eds, The Women and War Reader (New York: New York University Press, 1998). • Robert M. Hayden, “Rape and Rape Avoidance in Ethno-National Conflicts: Sexual Violence in Liminalized States,” American Anthropologist , Vol. 102, No. 1 (March 2000), pp. 27-41.

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Book for Review • Michaela Schäuble, Narrating victimhood : gender, religion and the making of place in post-war Croatia (New York-Oxford: Berghahn, 2014). • Elissa Helms, Innocence and Victimhood : Gender, Nation, and Women's Activism in postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina (Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, 2013)

17.3.2017 8. Democracy, Citizenship and Nationalism

This class will study the interlinkages between citizenship, democratization, and nationalism. It is generally assumed that nationalism is detrimental to the development of democracy, while democratization has often been the standard prescription for preventing ethnic conflict. This class will point out the complexities in the relationship, both as how democracy has been undermined by nationalism, but also how free elections have brought to power nationalist elites and how citizenship has been core to both democratic ideas and nationalist restrictions.

Mandatory Readings • Nenad Stojanovi ć, When non-nationalist voters support ethno-nationalist parties: The 1990s elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a Prisoner’s Dilemma Game,” Southeast European and Black Sea Studies , Vol. 14, No. 4 (December 2014), pp. 607-625. • Florian Bieber and Irena Ristic, Constrained Democracy: The Consolidation of Democracy in Yugoslav Successor States,” Southeastern Europe , Vol. 36. No. 3 (2012), pp. 373-397.

Suggested Readings • Agneza Bozic, “Democratisation and ethnopolitical conflict: the Yugoslav case,” Karl Cordell (ed.) Ethnicity and Democratisation in Eastern Europe (London/New York: Routledge, 1999), 117-130. • Petr Kopecky, “Civil Society, uncivil society and contentious politics in post- communist Europe,” Petr Kopecky and Cas Mudde, Uncivil Society? Contentious Politics in post-Communist Europe (London: Routledge, 2002), pp. 1-18.

Books for Review • Mieczyslaw P. Boduszynski, Regime Change in the Yugoslav Successor States: Divergent Paths toward a New Europe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010) • Danijela Dolenec, Democratic Institutions and Authoritarian Rule in Southeastern Europe (Colchester: ECPR Press, 2013). • Jelena Džanki ć, Citizenship in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro (Farnham: Ashgate, 2014). • Igor Štiks, Nations and Citizens in Yugoslavia and the Post-Yugoslav States (London: Bloomsbury, 2015).

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30.3.2017 9. Religion and Nationalism

This class will look at nationalism from the perspective of church/mosque-nation relations. Topics of discussion will include the core role of religion in defining a number of Balkan national movements and the tensions between the often universalistic orientation of religions and the ethnic/national focus of churches/mosques.

Mandatory Readings • Ivan Ivekovi ć, “Nationalism and the Political Use and Abuse of Religion: The Politicization of Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Islam in Yugoslav Successor States,” Social Compass , Vol. 49, No. 4 (2002), pp. 523-536. • Klaus Buchenau, “What went wrong? church–state relations in socialist Yugoslavia,” Nationalities Papers, Vol. 33, No. 3, 547-567.

Suggested Readings • Radmila Radi ć, The Church and the “Serbian Question”, Nebojša Popov (ed.), The Road to War in Serbia. Trauma and Catharsis (Budapest: CEU Press, 2000), pp. 247-273. • Vjekoslav Perica, “Interfaith Dialogue versus Recent Hatred: Serbian Orthodoxy and Croatian Catholicism from the Second Vatican Council to the Yugoslav War, 1965–1992,” Religion, State & Society , Vol. 29, No. 1 (2001), pp. 39-66.

Books for Review • Ina Merdjanova, Rediscovering the Umma : Muslims in the Balkans between nationalism and transnationalism (Oxford: OUP, 2013)

31.3.2017 10. Responding to Nationalism: Post-Conflict Intervention

In continuation with the previous class, this class will examine the connection between international relations and nationalism in the post-conflict phase. The focus will be on Bosnia and Herzegovina and to a lesser degree on Kosovo.

The concluding class will also summarize the different aspects of contemporary nationalism and contemplate on the role nationalism might play in the region in the future. In addition, Southeastern Europe shall be placed in the context of Europe and the role nationalism plays elsewhere on the continent.

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Mandatory Readings • James Ker-Lindsay, Kosovo. The Path to Contested Statehood in the Balkans (London: IB Tauris, 2009), pp. 102-126. • Nina Caspersen, “Good Fences Make Good Neighbours? A Comparison of Conflict Resolution Strategies in Post-War Bosnia,” Journal of Peace Research , Vol. 4, No. 5 (2004), pp. 569-588.

Suggested Readings • Gerald Knaus and Felix Martin, “Travails of the European Raj, Lessons from Bosnia and Herzegovina”, Journal of Democracy , Vol.14, No. 3 (July 2003), pp. 60-74. • Patrice C. McMahon and Jon Western, “The Death of Dayton. How to Stop Bosnia From Falling Apart,” Foreign Affairs , Vol. 88, No. 5 (October 2009), pp. 69-83. • Marc Weller, “The Vienna negotiations on the final status for Kosovo,” International Affairs, Vol. 84, No. 4 (July 2008), pp. 659-681.

Books for Review • Gerard Toal and Carl T. Dahlman, Bosnia Remade. Ethnic Cleansing and Its Reversal (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). • Christopher Bennett, Bosnia’s Paralysed Peace (London: Hurst, 2016). • Cvete Koneska , After Ethnic Conflict. Policy-Making in Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia (Farnham: Ashgate, 2014)

31.3.2017 11. New Nationalisms and the Legacies of Past Conflicts

This class will discuss the rise and salience of extreme right-wing politics in the contemporary Balkans exploring the significance of the legacy of war during 1990s and the interrelationship between democratic consolidation, economic reform and crisis, EU integration and new nationalism.

Mandatory Readings

• Theodora Vetta, “Revived nationalism versus European democracy: Class and “identity dilemmas” in contemporary Serbia” Focaal—European Journal of Anthropology 55 (2009): 74–89. • Karin Dyrstad, “After ethnic civil war. Ethno-nationalism in the Western Balkans,” Journal of Peace Research 49: 6 (2012), 817-831.