Yugoslavia - Building a Multi-National State

2024/2025

Учебный год

ENG

Обучение ведется на английском языке

3

Кредиты

Кто читает:

Департамент истории

Статус:

Курс по выбору

Когда читается:

5-й курс, 3 модуль

Преподаватели

Гужвица Стефан

Платонова Евгения Сергеевна

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Yugoslavia, was the most ethnically mixed European country formed out of the Versailles peace settlement. It lasted for almost a quarter of a century in its monarchist and socialist forms, and it collapsed into ethnic civil war twice in this period. The second time around, there was no pan-Yugoslav anti-nationalist force to patch it back together, and the country, inspired by a 200-year-old idea, is now seemingly gone for good. This class will look at the challenges and complexities of building a multi-ethnic state through the case study of Yugoslavia. It will examine its successes and failures, the questions of federalism and centralism, nationalism and internationalism, monarchism and communism, impositions and negotiations, and all the shades in between. The class will look not only at the political aspects of “the national question,” but also social and cultural phenomena that interact with nationhood, such as labor, consumption, gender, cinema, and philosophy.

Learning Objectives

• This course will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and complexities involved in building and maintaining a multi-ethnic state through the case study of Yugoslavia. Students will examine the historical, political, and social factors that shaped the creation of Yugoslavia, focusing on various centralist and federalist models in their respective monarchist and communist forms. The course will also explore the social and cultural dimensions of nationhood. Students will critically analyze the lasting legacies of Yugoslavia’s collapse, drawing comparisons with other multi-ethnic states and reflecting on the contemporary political dynamics of the Balkans.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Understand the causes of Yugoslavia’s formation, its problems of internal governance and fall;
• Know debates on centralism versus federalism;
• Understand the role of national minorities and inter-ethnic tensions and cooperations in a multinational state
• Gain an ability to analyze the variety of monarchist and communist responses to the national question
• Know the contemporary legacy of Yugoslavia and the phenomenon of Yugonostalgia.
• Understand the way the national question was reflected in culture, arts, philosophy, and the workplace

Course Contents

• Introduction: Yugoslavism until 1918
• The First Yugoslavia
• The Non-Slavic Minorities
• The Communist Response
• Break-up and Yugonostalgia
• Internationalism: Yugoslavia and the Global South Socialist Nationhood

Assessment Elements

• Attendance and in-class participation
  Students are expected to attend all seminars and take active part in the discussion and demonstrate knowledge of the content of lectures and readings. The seminars are based on the given readings provided by the lecturer in the class.
• Discussion leading
  Students are expected to prepare questions for discussion (4-5) once during the course. The questions should be based on the assigned seminar readings to initiate discussion in class. It is also required to present the author of the paper and introduce his/her position in the field. Students are expected to mediate the discussion. To complete this assignment, students can work in pairs. Please send your questions in advance (email the instructor of the seminar and classmates), preferably by Tuesday afternoon but no later than Tuesday 9 pm. before class on Wednesday.
• Final essay
  To successfully complete the course, students should submit a 2000-2500 word essay on a given topic from Yugoslav history. The topic can cover anything from the national question, through political aspects of Yugoslavia, to questions pertaining to culture and art. Essays can be comparative, referring to the students’ own case studies for their BA theses, or assessing certain aspects of Yugoslavia’s past from the methodological perspective of their own work. While preparing the essay, students are not allowed to use any generative AI models. If course instructors detect AI generated content in the essay, a student gets zero points. See: Regulations for Interim and Ongoing Assessments of Students at National Research University Higher School of Economics (POPATKUS), i. 38. Late submissions are penalized by one grade down for every 24 hours past the assigned deadline.

Interim Assessment

• 2024/2025 3rd module
  0.3 * Attendance and in-class participation + 0.3 * Discussion leading + 0.4 * Final essay

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Oberschall, A. (2000). The manipulation of ethnicity: from ethnic cooperation to violence and war in Yugoslavia. Ethnic & Racial Studies, 23(6), 982–1001. https://doi.org/10.1080/014198700750018388

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Ognjenovic, G., & Jozelic, J. (2016). Revolutionary Totalitarianism, Pragmatic Socialism, Transition : Volume One, Tito’s Yugoslavia, Stories Untold. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1250111

Authors

• GUZHVITSA STEFAN
• PLATONOVA Evgeniia SERGEEVNA