This seminar focuses on the causes, specific patterns and modes of mobilization, protest and regime change in Eastern Europe in comparative historical context from the 1956 Hungarian Revolution to 2014 Ukrainian revolution. The seminar will scrutinize and compare the specific national roots of discontent, mechanics of mass mobilization, patterns of democratic uprisings and the nature of internal and external responses at national elite and mass levels. It will also analyze the interactions with external actors, foreign policy and security interests involved and actual outcomes and impact of these events in the context of respective countries’ socialist and post-socialist pathways. In search of answers, as to why and how Eastern Europeans protest and rebel, and critically evaluate what are the results of these in historic perspective, we will combine a mix of traditional approaches borrowing conceptual instrumentation from the fields of political science and history pertinent to continuity and change in Eastern Europe. In addition, as students will be engaged in empirical analysis of primary declassified archived national security, intelligence and diplomacy relevant material, elements of theory of intelligence will be employed, in evaluation of Western and Eastern respective perceptions, analysis and estimation of processes and expected outcomes. Students will be encouraged to investigate, examine and interpret the archival data that reflects the causes, roots and expected outcomes of protests and revolutions in Eastern Europe through the lenses of American diplomacy, intelligence and security apparatus, in search of analytical biases, detection and specific interpretations of Soviet and Russian “active measures” applied in response to anticipated or active protest and mobilization. The aim of the thematic seminar is to combine multiple theoretical approaches with practical application in developing an informed appreciation and deeper understanding of the internal root causes and “mechanics” of Eastern European protest and mobilization strategies, as well as their Western “reflection” through the lenses of the national security and intelligence apparatus, as sources in aiding subsequent policy shifts and responses.