Course objectives: The main aim of the course is to provide insights into a wide span of theoretical approaches pertinent to understanding position of Southeastern Europe within the wider European and global context. Theory is presented as the powerful conceptual toolbox capable to depict, analyse, explain, and understand phenomena and processes which have been taking place within the region and have shaped its distinctive figure. By its profile, this is an interdisciplinary course as theoretical perspectives from sociology, political sciences, ethnology, historiography and cultural sciences are being discussed. After completing the course, students will be capable to competently reflect upon and choose proper theoretical approach adequate for explaining diverse social phenomena and processes and applied it when conducting concrete empirical research projects/analyses. 

Enrolment requirements and/or entry competences required for the course:  No special formal requirements

Learning outcomes at the level of the programme to which the course contributes:

1. Explain and compare theoretical approaches to Southeast European studies in the social sciences and humanities
2. Critically assess and apply theoretical approaches to the analysis of phenomena and processes in Southeast Europe
3. Recognize and explain the ways in which local, national, and transnational processes influence social structures in Southeast Europe

Expected learning outcomes at the level of the course:

1. Attaining relevant concepts adequate for understanding position of Southeast Europe in a wider geopolitical and historical context
2. Comparing diverse theoretical approaches
3. Writing and competently discussing the review paper on a chosen topic in a given knowledge domain
4. Applying and enhancing writing and overall communication skills

Course content (syllabus):   

1. W-1 Introduction to the course
2. W-2 What is theory? Types and functions of theory
3. W-3 Diachronical perspective: from entangled history to global history
4. W-4 Modernization theories
5. W-5 World system theory
6. W-6 A view from global semi-periphery
7. W-7 Post-colonial theories
8. W-8 Globalization and local identities – a view from ethnological lenses
9. W-9 Post-socialist transition model and its critique
10. W-10 Southeast Europe between post-modernization and retraditionalization 1 (Examples of a theory application)
11. W-11 Southeast Europe between post-modernization and retraditionalization 2 (Examples of a theory application)
12. W-12 Egalitarian syndrome concept
13. W-13 Elites and social movements – dynamics of social change
14. W-14 Understanding migration trends and patterns in Southeast Europe
15. W-15 Concluding Discussion / Review for final examination / Guidelines for a paper development / Evaluation of the course

Format of instruction: lectures, seminars and workshops, partial e-learning, field work

Student responsibilities: Regular attendance of the classes is required as well as regular participation in class activities. The students will need to execute their homework assignments by reading the seminar literature as a preparation for every seminar’s class. The activity in the seminar’s discussions in a single week is granted by 1 point. At least 7 (out of 13) points is compulsory to attain. The obtained points will be taken into account by the assessment procedure, i.e. they have an impact for the concluding mark. In addition, it is expected that each participant prepares and conducts a presentation for the seminar’s conference. At the end of the course, the students will write and discuss about an overview paper on a chosen topic, which they find most pertinent.

Monitoring student work: class attendance, oral exam, essay, seminar paper

1. Cook, K. S., Rice, E. R. W. (2006). “Exchange and Power: Issues of Structure and Agency.” In: J. H. Turner (ed.), Handbook of Sociological Theory. New York: Springer. (pp. 699-719).
2. Daskalov, R., Mishkova, D., Marinov, T., Vezenkov, A. (2017). Entangled Histories of the Balkans – Volume Four: Concepts, Approaches, and (Self)Representations (Selected Chapters).
3. Herzfeld, M. (2002). “The Absent Presence: Discourses of Crypto-Colonialism.” South Atlantic Quarterly, 101 (4):899-926.               
4. Kollmorgen, R. (2013). “Theories of Postcommunist Transformation. Approaches, Debates, and Problems of Theory Building in the Second Decade of Research.” Studies of Transition States and Societies, 5 (2): 88–106.             
5. Mouzelis, N. (2003). Sociological Theory. What Went Wrong? Diagnosis and Remedies. London – New York: Routledge. (Selected Chapters)                    
6. Smelser, N. (1992). “External and Internal Factors in Theories of Social Change”, In: H. Haferkamp, N. J. Smelser (eds.), Social Change and Modernity. Berkeley – Los Angeles – Oxford: University of California Press.
7. So, A. Y. (1990). Social Change and Development. Modernization, Dependency and World-System Theories. Newbury Park – London – New Delhi: Sage Publications.
8. Todorova, M. (1997). Imagining the Balkans. Oxford University Press. (Selected Chapters).
9. Wallerstein, Immanuel (1992). “The West, Capitalism, and the Modern World-System”, Review 15 (4), 561-619;

1. Abbot, A. (2004). Methods of Discovery: Heuristics for the Social Sciences. W. W. Norton & Company.
2. Black, A. (2003). “The Information Society: A Secular View.” In: Hornby, S., Clarke, Z. (eds.), Challenge and Change in the Information Society. London: Facet Publishing.
3. Bjørnholt, M. (2014). “Changing men, changing times; fathers and sons from an experimental gender equality study.” The Sociological Review, 62 (2): 295–315.
4. Brettel, C., Hollifield, J. F. (2000). „Introduction“. in C. Brettel and J.F.Hollifield (eds). Migration Theory: Talking Across the Disciplines. Routledge. 1-36.
5. Breuilly, J. (2014). Nationalism and the Balkans: A Global Perspective.
6. Burić, I., Štulhofer, A. (2017). Addendum: In search of the egalitarian syndrome: cultural inertia in Croatia? Financial Theory and Practice. http://doi.org/10.3326/fintp.40.4.1c
7. Calic, M.-J. (2019). The Great Cauldron: A History of Southeastern Europe. Cambridge – London: Harvard University Press, 2019 (translation of the book Südosteuropa: Weltgeschichte einer Region).
8. Feather, J. (2003). “Theoretical Perspectives on the Information Society.” In: Hornby, S., Clarke, Z. (eds.), Challenge and Change in the Information Society. London: Facet Publishing.
9. Huntington, S. P. (1991). The Third Wave: Democratization in Late Twentieth Century. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press.
10. Rajković, I. M., Kelemen, P., Župarić-Iljić, D- (eds.) (2018). Contemporary Migration Trends and Flows on the Territory of Southeast Europe. Zagreb: FF Press. (selected chapters) https://openbooks.ffzg.unizg.hr/index.php/FFpress/catalog/book/35.
11. Rosa, H. (2003). “Social Acceleration: Ethical and Political Consequences of a Desynchronized High-Speed Society.” Constellations, Vol. 10(1): 3-33.
12. Roth S. (2019). “Digital transformation of social theory. A research update.” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 146, No. September, pp. 88-93.                                              
13. Sanderson, S. K. (2007). Evolutionism and Its Critics. Deconstructing and Reconstructing an Evolutionary Interpretation of Human Society. Boulder – London: Paradigm Publishers. (Chapt. 7 – Sociological Evolutionism: I (pp. 132-153); – Chapt. 9 – Sociological Evolutionism: II (pp. 192-222))
14. Sen, A. (2000). “Development as Freedom. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. (odabrani ulomci)
15. Spivak, G. C. (1988).Can the Subaltern Speak?” In: C. Nelson and L. Grossberg (eds.), Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, Macmillan Education: Basingstoke, pp. 271-313.
16. Swedberg, R. (ed.)(2014). Theorizing in Social Science. The Context of Discovery. Stanford Social Sciences.
17. Todorova, M. (2005). “The Trap of Backwardness: Modernity, Temporality, and the Study of Eastern European Nationalism,” Slavic Review, Vol. 64, No. 1 (Spring, 2005), pp. 140-164.