Stability under Dictatorial Regimes? Perspectives on the Balkans and Turkey in the Cold War Era - Detailseite

In the WS 2014/15 the developments of Yugoslav and Turkish politics and society in the 20^th century have been discussed with a particular interest in processes of anti-imperialism and also by applying “post-colonial” approaches. This seminar in the SS 2015 continues these endeavors but will deal with the fact that authoritative regimes and one-party systems were crucial factors in the history of both states in the 20^th century. Were these non-democratic forms of political rule furthering a long-lasting difficulty for the development of just political and social relations or have they, on the contrary, secured (repeatedly) stability in times of extreme internal polarizations? How can we understand the establishment, the functioning and the support for such authoritative regimes? These questions will be in the center of the program of this seminar, in which it is planned to discuss and compare decisive tendencies in the development of Turkish and Balkan/Yugoslav politics and societies in the period of the Cold War, when most parts of the Balkans were “socialist” and Turkey belonged to the “West”.