The Limitations of Western Models

I.  Lecture:  "Nation Without a State: The Balkan Jews."

II. Oral Report:  III. Reading Assignments:  [for next week]:
        1. Held, pp. 1-10, 17-27, 81-91, 171-198, 277-289, 314-323.
        2. Clogg, pp. 100-120.
        3. Pinsker, "Auto-Emancipation: An Admonition to his Brrethren by a Russian Jews (1882)," pp. 1-23.
        4. Sekelj, "Anti-Semitism in Yugoslavia, 1918-1945,"  pp. 159-172.
        5. Anon.  "A Croat view of the Yugoslav crisis," pp. 304-310.

    After 1918, the Balkan states adopted Western economic, social and political systems. Within a few years, those systems failed.

IV. Questions:
    1. Why did Western social, economic & political models fail so badly after adoption by the Balkan states?
    2. Why did so many Balkan states experience a drift to the Right? Was the essence of Balkan politics fascist, or merely conservative?
    3. How does the experience of the Balkan Jew shed light on the limitations of Western models for Southeastern Europe?
        NB. Read Pinsker's appeal to the Jews of Romania & Russia, written in 1882. [if you find his pose too dense, start with his summary on pages 22 & 23 of
        the article].
    4. Pinsker compares the Jews to the Serbs & Romanians: how valid is this comparison?
    5. Are the motives & arguments behind his ideas of Jewish nationalism the same as those at work in other 19th century national revolutions in the region?
    6. Is Pinsker seeking a revolution that is socio-economic or political? Can a social revolution take place on the basis of an ideological proposal?
    7. Should we consider the Jews to be a "Balkan" nation? Consider yor answer carefully: you need to consider not only a definition of nationality,
        but also of "Balkan" identity.
    8. If there is a transition from "traditional" to "modern" forms of nationalism in the Balkans, is there also a transition from "traditional" to "modern" forms of
        anti-Semitism?

Identifications:
 
 

Emancipation	Alexander Stambolski
Assimilation	Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BANU)
Roma (Gypsies)	Legion of Archangel Michael
Numerus clauses	Iron Guard
Zionism	Pogrom
Codreanu	Gombos
Arrow & Cross Party	Theodor Herzl
Vidovdan Constitution	General Metaxas