The East and Central European Experience - from the Division of the Roman Empire to the Collapse of Communism

Today, the limelight has turned towards the East and Central European countries and their economic and political situation. This is largely due to the war in Ukraine, but also because several of the Eastern Central European countries have in recent years shown swift economic development and some are seen as examples of a strong entrepreneurial spirit. The main goal of the course is to discuss and analyze the long-run economic, political and social developments of this area.

Which differences can be explained by the socialist model, the heritage of two world wars and an unfavorable geopolitical position, and which are the result of the long-run structural, institutional and economic features? The course also analyses the years since transition and how the post-socialist states have developed recently.

The East and Central European countries still lags western Europe economically and has differed significantly socially, culturally, and politically. These countries started out from a significantly lower GDP/capita level at the end of Cold War and the collapse of the socialist system. The process of transformation to establish a Western style market economy was also both complex and uneven. The socialist model had introduced elements of modernization but was unable to develop the region in pace with the Western economies and contributed to the downfall of Communism. The socialist model was also characterized by growing social and environmental problems that contributed to its unsustainability.

However, it was not only the socialist system that delayed their economic development. Eastern and Central Europe was, for example, heavily affected by the two world wars and the transformative political, economic, demographical changes caused by the wars cast long shadows on these countries. The differences between the Eastern parts and the Western parts of Europe are also a result of structural factors, which can be recognized very early in the history of Europe. For example, Western Europe succeeded in transforming its agricultural economies into modern industrial societies, while this development was slower in Eastern and Central Europe. Industrialization was delayed in the late 19th century compared to Western Europe. In this course we will reflect on these differences since the Division of the Roman Empire to today. For a long period of time, serf labor was also the norm in the agricultural sector in large parts of Eastern Europe. We will also analyze how these long-run structural factors shaped the development possibilities of the area.