The aim of the course is to analyze the eastern enlargement of the EU from the point of view of a number of conditions that determined its course. Among them, there are historical, cultural, national, social, economic and political determinants. The premise of the course is the belief that the Eastern Enlargement of the EU was a clash between Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe, being one of the most important challenges for the continent since 1989. The students analyze the factors determining the position of the candidate countries on their way to the EU, Member States’ policies and the condition of European integration in the new international circumstances.

The subject aims at providing the basic knowledge about historical background of the most important political institutions like a monarchy, parliament, constitution, political parties, bureaucracy. It is focused on relations between history, politics and development of the state institutions mentioned above, with a special concentration on the European experiences. During the classes students are familiarized with the significance of a history in understanding contemporary political phenomena with a special focus on evolution and role of political institutions. The institutional approach in political science is presented followed by its strengths and weaknesses. A development of political institutions is placed in the wider social, cultural and economic context. The emphasis is put rather on reconstruction of the regularities exposed by evolution of political institutions, than on simple enumeration of historical facts.

The purpose of the class is presenting crucial issues connected with emerging and functioning of social movements as well as painting out of the growing role of these actors in the political arena both at the national and global level. Social movements will be analyzed during the class both in the historical and contemporary aspect with regard to such issues as the reasons for their emerging, functions fulfilled by the social movements, relation towards institutionalized political actors. One of the major issues discussed during the class will be the problem of constituting of common identity of the social movements.

The course on post-communist societies in Europe is devoted to the discussion of different aspects of of functioning those European societies which experienced really existing communism or state socialism in the 20th-century Europe. During the class meetings a whole range of topics are discussed covering the macroeconomic situation of Central and Eastern Europe as a specific region with its own economic, cultural and political problems dating back even before communism had ever occurred (the relative backwardness of most of European post-communist countries vis-à- vis their Western counterparts). Discussed are such problems as results and problems of the rapid and forcibly introduced industrialization during communism, the changes in the social structure, the particularities of cultural life under communism. Main part of the course is devoted to problems of adjustment to non-communist, democratic and free-market which emerged as result of the collapse of the socialist system in the region, in the context of globalization (e.g. the shock therapy in Poland), deindustrialization in the 1990s and 2000s, the problems of technological development, the transformation of social structure (the re-emergence of the class order in post-communist societies), as well as chosen problems ofpolitical development: the transition, the role of former political dissidents in post-communist political life.

Topics to be covered during this course include the basic frameworks on political communication research and theory, the history of the mass media, recent trends in the news media, theories of attitude formation and change and the nature of news. It will be focused on the ways in which the news shapes the public’s perceptions of the political world, campaign communication, and the general role of the mass media in the democratic process.