SYLLABUS

                             Public Sphere and Civil Society in the EU


Karel B. Müller

karel.muller@vsci.cz, www.karelmuller.eu

Office hours: Any time after appointment

The lecturer reserves the right to alter the syllabus during the term if necessary.


AIMS and OBJECTIVES

Our discussions will be mostly framed within the pivotal theoretical concepts of public sphere,
collective identity, and bordering. These theoretical concepts will also be introduced and
discussed in relation to a transnational European level. Main objectives of the course are to
acquaint students with the similarities and differences of contemporary civil societies in the EU.
We will examine the role of cultural, social, and political factors during the processes of the
formation of European nation states, their public spheres and collective identities. Emphasis will
be placed on explaining the variety of contemporary European civil societies. The course will help
students to understand the main historical roots of European plurality, including the political,
socioeconomic, and cultural processes that engendered such plurality. We will further discuss main
cultural and political preconditions (including policies) accompanying and guaranteeing the process
of Europeanization. Special attention will also be paid to the role of borders, bordering and its
transformation in the EU. By the end of the course, students will have gained (1) understanding of
variety of civil societies in the EU; (2) theoretical orientation in debates on the European public
sphere and a European civil society formation; (3) empirical knowledge of the key factors of
European public sphere/s and civil society formations; (4) competence in discussing perspectives of
further development of the public sphere, collective identity and civil society in the EU.


GRADING POLICY

Quality participation (one absence only is tolerated, each other/excessive

absence subtracts 3 points from the final evaluation:                                         30 %

Presentation (10 min MAX) or paper (2-3 thousand words)

on selected topic (if both delivered students can gain up to 40%).

Paper and presentation can cover an identical topic:                                          30%

Final test (6 open questions):
       40%


TOPICS

Selected topics (should come from European studies field, i.e. also political science, sociology,
anthropology, international relations, history) should be problem oriented. Students must register
their topics and the date of presentation with me (either via email or in person) before the end of
fourth week. Registrations after this date will not be accepted.





COURSE STRUCTURE AND READINGS

Week 1:  Examining European diversity – syllabus as required reading (:


Week 2: Defining Europe and the Concept of Nation in European Cultures (anthropological
perspectives)

Shils, Edward (1975). Center and Periphery, The University of Chicago Press, pp. 111-126.


Week 3: Defining Europe and the Concept of Nation in European Cultures (historical perspectives)

Delanty, G. (1995). Inventing Europe, London: Macmillan Press, chapters 2, 3, pp.16-47


Week 4: European Modernities

Held, D. (1992). “The Development of the Modern State”, in Hall and Gieben (eds). Formations of
Modernity, Polity press & The Open University, pp. 71-125.


Week 5: European Modernities

Giddens, A. (1990). Consequences of Modernity. Polity Press, pp. 10-29


Week 6: Models of Nation/Civil Society Formation

Gellner, E. (1997). Nationalism. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, chapters 6 and 7, pp. 37 –57.


Week 7: Central Europe and Post-communist Civil Societies

Holy, L. (1996). The Little Czech and the Great Czech Nation. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, chapter „The private and the public in socialist Czechoslovakia“, pp. 17–27.

Sztompka, P. (1998). „Mistrasting Civility. Predicaments of Post-Communist Society“, in Alexander,
J. (ed.), Real Civil Societies. Dilemmas of Institucionalization. London: Sage, pp. 191–210.


Week 8: The Concept of Public Sphere

Müller, B. K. (2006). The Civil Society-State Relationship in Contemporary Discourse: A
Complementary Account from Giddens´ Perspective. The British Journal of Politics & International
Relations, 2006, 8 (2), pp. 311–330.


Week 9: Beyond the Nation State. Civil Societies in Europe or European civil society?

Müller, K. B. (2014). European Civil Society Conundrum, in Central European Journal of
International & Security Studies; 2014, 8 (1).

Risse, T. (2010). A Community of Europeans, London: Cornell University Press, pp. 107-126.


Week 10: Active Borders as a Form of European Public Sphere

Müller, K. B. (2018). Active Borders and Transnationalization of the Public Sphere in Europe:
Examining Territorial and Symbolic Borders as a Source of Democratic Integration, Positive
Identity, and Civic Learning. Alternatives vol. 43, no. 3, p. 119–136.


Week 11: Europe as a Community of Memory?

Assmann A. (2009). From Collective Violence to the Common Future: Four Models for Dealing with the
Traumatic Past, in Wodak, Ruth; Gertraud Auer Borea d'Olmo (ed.). Justice and Memory – Confronting
Traumatic Pasts. An International Comparison.  Wien: Passagen Verlag, pp. 31–48

Assmann A. (2007). Europe: A Community of Memory? Bulletin of the German Historical Institute,
Spring 40: 11–38.


Week 12:  Final Test