• Gevorgyan Valentina

• Gevorgyan Valentina

Civil Society in Eastern Europe

Block course: Civil Society in Eastern Europe

Teaching language: English

Duration: 14 hours

Lecturer: Valentina Gevorgyan, PhD, Political Science

E-mail: valentina.gevorgyan@unifr.ch  

Course description

This block course aims to provide students with solid theoretical and practical knowledge to understand and analyse the concept of civil society. Focusing mostly on Eastern Europe, the course provides an overview of the development of the concept of civil society, along with the concepts associated with it. The course aims to provide an understanding also on the development of the civil society research. The content is developed in a way to help improve the understanding of analytical relationships and the interplay between the three sectors: public, private and third sector. Students will learn about the dominant theories and conceptual models shaping the field of civil society. It includes discussion of cultural and political schools of thought and the examination of effects of public knowledge, opinions, perceptions and attitudes. 

The course also aims to equip students with practical knowledge related to the non-governmental or third sector. For this aim, it includes the discussion of civil society and human rights, namely the diverse institutional platforms and advocacy niches, preparing student knowledge on how the exemplary civil society work is applied on practice, in modern democracies. The course also reflects on the challenges that the non-democratic and developing countries face in their quest towards democratisation.  As a result, the students will improve their understanding of the basic concepts and definitions of political science and civil society; understand the components of scientific debate and try applying it in practice, and learn the application of social science research methods. The course will help students to develop their knowledge and abilities of critical thinking, argumentation, problem solving, debating and evaluation skills.

The course has several sessions, described below.

Day 1 (420 minutes)

Sub-session 1: The concept of civil society and its associations

Discussion of the foundational concepts and literature, setting the stage for the entire block course. This part introduces the definitions of civil society and its associations in the literature, based on the suggested readings. It discusses the main theories, concepts, associations with civil society concept, and a brief evolution of it through historical lenses. 

Sub-session 2: Civil society and Eastern Europe

To build on the foundation, and also to start the main discussion of the course based on the history and developments, the course lays the ground starting from the 1980s, and the literature that points to the rebirth of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe as a response and rejection of totalitarian regimes. It discusses civil society and social movements, activism and civic mobilisation, offering the analysis and literature of the recent past. Here, the material reflects also on the main social movement theories and books, which speak directly to civil society's role in the end of 20th century. 

Sub-session 3: Post-Soviet civil society and what does it mean to be post-Soviet?

The discussion then concentrates on the consequences of the Soviet Union's departure particularly for the states in Eurasian space. It touches upon the memory politics, transition paradigms, the diverse paths of development of different states, and so on. Here, the literature is selected aiming to answer what it means to be post-Soviet and how the legacies of the past have navigated failed realities for a number of countries in the region today. Current developments, such as wars in Ukraine and Armenia are also discussed. 

Day 2 (420 minutes)

Sub-session 4: Civil society, government institutions and human rights advocacy

The course then makes a transition to the subject of civil society relations with government institutions. It provides an actual knowledge and experiences from around the developed countries on the practices of these relations. It discusses the influences on civil society on policies, with examples from different countries (mainly EU’s Eastern Partnership) and areas of public life. It discusses the legal guarantees, practical instruments and advocacy niches, which the UN, EU, Council of Europe, OSCE, and other international institutions provide for civil society.

Sub-session 5: Civil society and research methods

This course component concentrates on the discussion of civil society and research methods. It discusses how civil society research is taking place today, presenting the modern research approaches, instruments, available studies, and data on worldwide civil society, in the context of the importance of  interdisciplinary approaches in civil society research. This session provides some practical knowledge to students, in addition to proposing to them to think about the values and importance of civil society, especially in our current day and age, and shifting realities.  

Sub-session 6: Case study: Armenian civil society and politics from 1990s to present

As the author comes from Armenia, in the end, the course delegates some time to presenting Armenia’s case-study, as a post-Soviet country in Europe’s eastern neighbourhood, a hybrid regime with a quest to democratisation; but also a handful of challenges thanks to its legacy. The discussion about a particular country is presented in a larger context of the Caucasus, a complex neighbourhood, and its dangerous developments today. That posits Armenia in a volatile, but also a curious position from research perspective. The discussion is placed into the centre-periphery theoretical contour, to demonstrate the links and commonalities of Armenia's case to previously discussed material. 

Course structure

Lecturer-led classes. Assigned readings should be completed before the meetings. In-class lectures, discussions, and encouraged active participation are designed to guide students through this process.

Evaluation method

Student learning will be evaluated based on their participation in class and a brief written evaluation with open-ended questions administered to participants after all sessions.

Required materials

Reading materials are shared with registered for the course students, in advance.

Abrahamian, Levon and Gayane Shagoyan, ‘From Carnival Civil Society Toward a Real Civil Society: Democracy Trends in Post-Soviet Armenia’, Anthropology & Archeology of Eurasia, 50:3, 11-50. 2012.

Chambers, Simone, and Jeffrey Kopstein, ' Civil Society and the State', in John S. Dryzek, Bonnie Honig, and Anne Phillips (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory 2008.

Ehrenberg, John, ' The History of Civil Society Ideas', in Michael Edwards (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Civil Society, Oxford Handbooks. 2011.

Gevorgyan, Valentina and Yevgenya Paturyan, “Armenian Civil Society: Old Problems, New Energy after Two Decades of Independence.” Springer. Societies and Political Orders in Transition. 1st Edition. 2021.

Hayoz, Nicolas, ‘Cultures of Informality and Networks of Power in Post-Soviet Non-democracies’ Evolutionary Governance Theory, Beunen, R., Van Assche, K., Duineveld, M. (eds) Springer, Cham. 2015.

Hayoz, Nicolas, ‘Informal Networks of Power and Control of Deviation in Post-Soviet Non-Democracies’ International Relations and Diplomacy, Vol. 4, No. 1, 60-69, January 2016.

Howard, Marc Morjé, ' Civil Society in Post-Communist Europe', in Michael Edwards (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Civil Society, Oxford Handbooks 2011.

Krastev, Ivan, ‘Where Next or What Next’ in Reclaiming Democracy: Civil Society and Electoral Change in Central and Eastern Europe by Joerg Forbrig, Pavol Demeš (eds). Washington, DC: German Marshall Fund, 2007.

Marcus, David, ‘Memory as Homeland’ in Dissent, Volume 55, Number 1, Winter 2008 , pp. 120-124. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Reichardt, Sven, ‘Civil Society A Concept for Comparative Historical Research’ Future of Civil Society, 2004.

Roberts, Adam and Timothy Garton Ash, ‘A Century of Civil Resistance: Some Lessons and Questions’ in Civil Resistance and Power Politics. The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present. Oxford University Press. 2009.

Way, Lucan, ‘Resistance to Contagion. Sources of Authoritarian Stability in the Former Soviet Union’ in Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Post-communist World by Valerie Bunce, Michael McFaul and Kathryn Stoner-Weiss (Eds) Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Die Einschreibung in den Blockkurs ist verbindlich und gilt automatisch als Einschreibung in die Prüfung:

Die Absolvierung der Prüfung im selben Semester ist aufgrund der externen Dozierenden Voraussetzung für die Einschreibung in den Kurs.

In Kombination mit Blockkurs L41.00220 Vergleich Regierungssysteme 2 (=2 x1,5 ECTS)

Wird zusätzlich zum Studienplan angeboten, entspricht und kann anstelle von von BApol02d (Studienplan FS) besucht oder als Option BApol01e gewählt werden.

Alle Studierenden (auch Gaststudierende anderer Universitäten) müssen sich immatrikulieren um einen Kurs zu besuchen und eine Prüfung zu schreiben. 

Studierende, die sich für BENEFRI angemeldet haben, aber noch nicht aktiviert wurden und sich deswegen nicht einschreiben können, bitten wir, bevor Sie uns kontaktieren, zu überprüfen, ob Sie bereits immatrikuliert und aktiv im System sind. Eine Kurseinschreibung ist erst dann möglich, darum bitten wir Sie, sich ERST AB EINER WOCHE VOR EINSCHREIBESCHLUSS bei Problemen in Verbindung mit Ihrer Aktivierung / BENEFRI per E-Mail beim Sekretariat "Fachbereich Politik und Gesellschaft" zu melden.

Alle Einschreibungen sind nach Ablauf der Ausschreibefrist verbindlich.

Wir erwarten, dass alle Studierenden mit den Regeln vertraut sind, und in Eigenverantwortung prüfen, dass sie sich in die Unterrichtseinheiten, die ihrem Studienplan entsprechen oder damit vereinbar sind, eingeschrieben haben. Ohne Meldung direkt an das Sekretariat erwarten wir, dass alle Teilnehmenden unter Einhaltung der Frist korrekt in die Unterrichtseinheiten und die entsprechende Prüfung eingeschrieben sind. Ohne Einschreibung werden keine Noten / ECTS eingetragen.

NUR BEI DEN BLOCKKURSEN GILT DIE EINSCHREIBUNG IN DEN KURS, DA AUSSERHALB DER PRÜFUNGSSESSION, DIREKT ALS EINSCHREIBUNG IN DIE PRÜFUNG (Sie können sich unter "ausserhalb der Prüfungssession" selbstständig in die Prüfung einschreiben). Die Einschreibung in einen Blockkurs oder Kurs mit auswärtigen Dozierenden verpflichtet zum Schreiben der Prüfung im selben Semester, da diese Dozierenden nur bedingt verfügbar sind, hier wird die Prüfung im selben Semester als Voraussetzung für den Besuch vorausgesetzt.