Central European University A Program for University Teachers, Advanced Ph.D. Students, Researchers and Professionals in the Social Sciences and Humanities Summer University

ACTORS OR STRUCTURES: OBSTACLES TO STABILIZATION OF NEW DEMOCRACIES

COURSE DIRECTOR: 

András Bozóki, Associate Professor in Political Science (CEU)

RESOURCE PERSONS:

Alfred Stepan, András Bozóki, Béla Greskovits, Gábor Tóka (all from the CEU), Iván Szelényi (University of California at Los Angeles), Scott Mainwaring (Kellogg Institute, University of Notre Dame), Akos Róna-Tas (University of California at San Diego), József Böröcz (Rutgers University), Helena Flam (University of Leipzig)

PURPOSE OF THE COURSE:

Currently there is a debate about the preconditions of democracy, particularly between "minimalists" and a "maximalists" who understand democratic transition and consolidation differently. Paralel to it, but not independently, there is a discussion about the main determinants of the regime change. Modernization, dependency and world-system theories originally tended to emphasize the determining role of the given structures. Institutionalists and transition theorists, however, stressed the importance of the elites in creating and changing structures. (The members of these elites partly came from the former opposition, partly from the younger, more technocratic representatives of the former communist party.) In the present post-transition period of East Central Europe the debate is far from being over and, after the period of rapid political change, social scientists, again, tend to bring the given social structures back in the discussion. The participants of the course will study this problem with special attention to the preconditions of stabilization of new democracies.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Three-week course for 20 participants.

Week 1. (20 hours): Meanings of transition, consolidation, restricted and full democracy. The nature and the chief actors in the transformative politics, the role of the elites, humanistic intellectuals, technocrats and managers. The characteristics of economic transformation (A. Bozóki, I. Szelényi, B. Greskovits)

Week 2. (20 hours): Social movements, emerging party-systems, the acceptance of democracy, the role of intellectual and economic elites in comparative perspective (H. Flam, G.Tóka, A. Róna-Tas)

Week 3. (20 hours): Actors vs Structures in theoretical and comparative perspective. Social change by fusion. The meaning and limits of institutionalism on the basis of the Latin American cases. Choosing institutions and economic policies. Issues in democratic consolidations. (J. Böröcz, S. Mainwaring, A. Stepan)

6 hours for special evening lectures of invited professors. (Total: 66 hours)

PLACE: CEU, Budapest College, Nádor u.9.

Mornings: 9-10.30; 11-12.30 (Faculty Tower, #909)

Evening lectures: 7-9 p.m. (Nádor Building, #102)

July 1. Monday András Bozóki (CEU) "Interpretations of Political Change"

July 2. Tuesday András Bozóki (CEU) "Technocrats, Mediacrats, Movement Intellectuals: The Main Actors of the Regime Change"

EVENING LECTURE: Iván Szelényi (UCLA) "Managerial Capitalism as a Form of Post-Communism"

July 3. Wednesday Béla Greskovits (CEU) "Gradualism or Radicalism: Designs for Economic Change"

July 4. Thursday Béla Greskovits (CEU) "The Political Economy of Patience"

July 5. Friday Béla Greskovits (CEU) "Breakdown Prophecies and Poor Democracies"

July 8. Monday Helena Flam (Leipzig) "Social Movements and Political Change"

July 9. Tuesday Helena Flam (Leipzig) "The Role of Former Opposition in Poland and in the GDR"

July 10. Wednesday Gábor Tóka (CEU) "Political Parties and Party-Systems in East Central Europe"

July 11. Thursday Gábor Tóka (CEU) "Who Is Satisfied with Democracy"

EVENING LECTURE: Ákos Róna-Tas (UCSD) "New Economic Elites Under Post-Communism"

July 12. Friday Ákos Róna-Tas (UCSD) "Path Dependence and Neo-liberalism"

July 15. Monday József Böröcz (Rutgers) "Social Change by Fusion: a Critique of the Re-Application of Modernization Theory in East Central Europe"

July 16. Tuesday József Böröcz (Rutgers) "Social Change by Fusion II."

EVENING LECTURE: Scott Mainwaring (Univ. of Notre Dame) "Democracies with Weak Parties: Problems and Prospects"

July 17. Wednesday Scott Mainwaring (Univ. of Notre Dame) "Institutionalism: Insights and Limitations"

July 18. Thursday Alfred Stepan (CEU) "When the Nation-State and Democracy are Conflicting Logics"

July 19. Friday Alfred Stepan (CEU) "The Prospects of New Democracies in Comparative Perspective"