The course explores the problems of delayed modernisation, problematic democratisation, elite-driven nation-building and geopolitical insecurity in the European semi-periphery, including countries in Central and Eastern Europe and South Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Southern Europe and Northern Europe (Scandinavia). It analyses the changing political, social and economic structures in the European semi-periphery from the first wave of liberal globalisation and the emergence of mass politics in the late 19th century, to the early 21st century. It explores the strategies adopted by political actors in the face of modernisation, nationalism and European integration.