USESEN010 Geopolitics of the Central European Area

Faculty of Public Policies in Opava
Summer 2015
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Guaranteed by
prof. RNDr. Vladimír Baar, CSc.
Institute of Central European Studies – Faculty of Public Policies in Opava
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to present the historical connections and other political, economic and cultural factors which have been influencing the development of political structures in central European area, relations between states, power ambitions of the states and their consequences regarding territorial changes to students. The interests of three ethno-linguistic communities have met in central European area - Germanic, Slavic and Finno-Ugric which have been competing between themselves as well as been cooperating and struggling for dominant position. Geopolitical changes and principal millstones in the development will be analysed in detail. The course includes also geopolitical ambitions of the states from neighbouring regions (France, Denmark, Sweden, Russia). The greatest attention will be dedicated to issue of geopolitical changes in the 19th and the 20th century. The graduates should be able to consider the consequences of so far development of the region and specific features of individual countries in evaluation of current period of cooperation within EU as well as name the issue which prevail in the conscious of citizens of central European countries as a reflexion of previous geopolitical processes.
Syllabus
  • 1. - 2. Central Europe as specific region (various approaches to understanding the central Europe in Czech, German, Austrian, Polish, Slovak, Swiss and Hungarian society)
    3. - 4. Geopolitical competition for central European territory till the 11th century - nuclear areas of state of Germans, Czech, Polish and Hungarians
    5. - 6. Transformations of central European area since the 12th century till Napoleon wars. Competition with neighbour countries. Religious conflicts and their influence on geopolitics.
    7. - 8. Central European area after Congress of Vienna. Competition for domination between Prussia and Austria. Expansion efforts.
    9. - 10. Geopolitical transformation of central European area after World War I. Decline of empires, rise of totalitarian ideologies and effort to revision of results of war
    11. - 12. Geopolitical transformation of central European area after World War II. Foundation and decline of iron curtain. Transformations of integration processes.
Literature
    required literature
  • GURŇÁK, D. Vývoj politickéj mapy stredovýchodnej a juhovýchodnej Európy. Bratislava: Kartprint, 2007. info
  • KŘEN, J. Dvě století střední Evropy. Praha: Argo, 2005. info
  • BAAR, V.- KOVÁŘ, M. Geopolitický, geokulturní a geoekonomický vývoj Evropy. Ostrava: OU, 2004. ISBN 80-7042-969-3. info
  • WANDYCZ, P. S. Cena svobody. Střední Evropa v dějinách od středověku do současnosti. Praha: Academia, 1998. info
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
Teacher's information
Written exam focused on testing knowledge of theory (terminology, chronology of internationally-law and historic-political context of the development of the region) and concrete manifestations of geopolitical problems in current central Europe.
The course is also listed under the following terms Summer 2012, Summer 2013, Summer 2014.
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