The Politics and Culture of Eastern Europe

Europe’s vast and open border region in the East – from Poland and the Balkans to the Urals and the Caucasus – has been the bedrock of some of the most radical transformations and dramatic conflicts that have shaped the modern era. The one-year Master's in East European Studies offers you a fascinating, research-oriented journey into the politics and culture of this region in the 20^th and 21^st centuries. You will explore the relationship between East and West, popular culture and everyday life and the interplay between power centres and peripheries. You will zoom in on nation-building and conflicts in sub-regions like the Caucasus, Ukraine/Crimea, or the Balkans, and on the relationship between nationalism and political Islam or Christian Orthodoxy.

Eastern European Studies at the UvA

Founded in 1948, the Master's programme now welcomes students from around the world and offers a unique opportunity for rigorous interdisciplinary training in East European studies:

• Explore political and cultural complexities of the region while following a comprehensive curriculum, combined with staff-led tutorials tailored to your regional and thematic interests.
• Benefit from our international staff and its broad interdisciplinary expertise, in the classroom and during individual mentoring for your Master's thesis.
• Engage with new, cutting-edge research projects in the field through weekly spotlight seminars with staff members and guest lectures by leading scholars from around the world.
• Gain practical experience through an internship in NGOs, academic institutions, or the diplomatic sector.
• Live and work at the heart of a truly cosmopolitan capital, and study at one of Europe's top-rated academic institutions.
• The programme collaborates with the Dutch institute in St Petersburg and includes a field trip to a capital city of the former Soviet space.

Student profile

As a student in the Master’s programme in East European Studies you are expected to have the following knowledge, insight and skills:

• you have a strong affinity with Eastern Europe, through study, travel, language, or reading;

• you are interested in the region’s history and its contemporary political landscape, but also in its cultures;
• you want to study Europe’s East from a European Studies perspective that emphasises connectivity, mutual influences, and interdependencies;
• you have a solid foundation in methodology and theories from your Bachelor's in the humanities or social sciences, which allows you to identify compelling research questions and to conduct research independently;

• you contribute to an engaged international classroom by participating actively in discussions and debates.

Skills in Eastern European languages are a welcome asset, but not a prerequisite.

Degree certificate

East European Studies is an accredited degree programme of European Studies. After successful completion of this programme, you will receive a legally accredited Master’s degree in European Studies and the title Master of Arts (MA).