POLITICS of RUSSIA

Description:

This course seeks to understand Russia’s political system and change. It is a part of the two courses-set on Eurasia.[1] The course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive coverage of Russia before and after Soviet dissolution, particularly as viewed from Russia’s perspective. It seeks to accomplish the following goals.

Background knowledge. First, it seeks to understand Russia’s political system in historical and contemporary setting. It should provide students with background historical knowledge relevant for understanding the region en large, as well as the knowledge of Russia’s main patterns of policy formation and policy orientation.

Contemporary issues. Second, the course seeks to provide students with basic knowledge of contemporary issues of the post-communist development of Russia and, to the extend possible, the entire Eurasian region. We will be concerned with the Soviet collapse, Russia’s political, economic, and security development, among other issues. 

Analytical perspectives. Third, the course will view Russia’s development in the light of major analytical perspectives that have been developed in Russian area studies as a discipline. In particular, students will learn to think about our subject matter in terms of two major rival schools of thought: Westernism, according to which Russia is in the process of incorporating Western institutions and catching up with the West and Traditionalism that argues that Russia is fundamentally different from the West and will be unable to adjust to liberal democratic values that are deemed exclusively as a product of Europe and its Modernity project.

Critical thinking. Finally, the course should help in developing analytical abilities through critical reading and writing. Students will develop standards of a “good” and “bad” argument and will learn to apply them in their writing and oral presentations

Requirements: 

Attendence and participation – 15% of the grade

Exam (closed notes) – 30%

Research paper (10-15 pages) – 30%

In-class presentation (7-10 minutes) – 15%

Two pop quizes (10-20 minutes) – 10 %

Pop quizes are designed to test your knowledge of readings by asking you to identify key positions, briefly demonstrate how they are supported, and explain which position holds more validity.

The format of paper and presentation will be discussed separately.

Readings: 

Poe, M. T. The Russian Moment in World History. Princeton, 2003.

Suny, R. G., ed. The Structure of Soviet History. Oxford, 2003.

Herspring, D. R., ed. Putin’s Russia. 2^nd ed. Rowman & Littlefield, 2004.

Short articles on electronic reserve (marked by *)

Calendar (tentative):

The course schedule:

I. INTRODUCTION

Week 1 (Jan 30) Introduction to the course

(Feb 1) Video “The Russian Revolution”

Week 2 (Feb 6) The Russian Moment in World History

Poe: read all

Weeks 2-3 (Feb 8, 13) Revolution and Bolsheviks

Suny: 6-22 (Suny), 32-47 (Lenin et al), 62-72 (Decrees), 117-118 (Lenin)

Assignment discussion

II. SOVIET SYSTEM

Weeks 3-4 (Feb 15, 20) Stalin

Suny: 87-103 (Suny; Martin), 118-124 (Lenin), 149-177 (Suny; Fitzpatrick), 188-198 (Timasheff), 229-232 (Pravda), 245-250 (Bukharin), 294-303 (Stalin, Nazi-Sov Pact)

Weeks 4-5 (Feb 22, 27) After Stalin

Suny: 329-330 (Suny), 340-349 (Khrushv), 359-360 (Suny), 360-370 (Bushnell),

370-384 (Millar; Burlatski)

Weeks 5-6 (Mar 1, 6) Soviet Collapse

Suny: 403-405 (Suny), 423-433 (Gorbachev), 438-445 (Andreeva), 452-456 (Yeltsin), 456-466 (Coup), 467-472 (CIS), 473-476 (Gorbi final speech), 533-549 (“Z”)

III. POST-SOVIET SYSTEM

Weeks 6-7 (Mar 8, 13) Yeltsin and His Legacy

Suny: 476-478, 492-504 (Suny), 478-492 (Shevtsova), 516-521 (Yeln vs. Khasbulv), 525-526, 530-532 (Yeltsin)

Mar 8 Assignment due

Week 7 (Mar 15) Video “Return of the Csar”

Week 8 (Mar 20, 22) Putin and Challenges Ahead

Suny: 564-573 (Holmes)

Herspring: 1-13, 293-300; *Putin, Russia at the turn of the millennium;

*McFaul, Russia and the West; *Rahr & Petro, Our Man in Moscow

IV. CURRENT ISSUES

Week 9 (Mar 27, 29) Chechnya

Suny: 529-530 (Decree); Herspring: 185-205 (Kipp);

*LaFraniere, How Jihad Made Its Way to Chechnya; *Baev, A Useful War?

*Petro, Russia Turns Corner in Chechnya

Mar 27 Presentations begin

Week 10 BREAK

Week 11 (Apr 10, 12) Oligarchs

Herspring: 121-140 (Millar), 161-184 (Rutland);

*Goldman, The Yukos Affair; *Lavelle, After Yukos’ funeral

Week 12 (Apr 17, 19) Review / Exam

Week 13 (Apr 24, 26) Demography / Polit. Attitudes

Herspring: 89-120 (Powell); *McFaul / Colton, Are Russians Undemocratic? *Mendelson, Failing the Stalin Test

Week 14 (May 1, 3) Democratization / Polit. Institutions

Herspring: 13-30 (Colton / McFaul), 31-54 (Remington), 55-74 (Lipman / McFaul);

*HRW, Draft Law Would Eviscerate Civil Society; *Ware, A Case of Self-Emasculation; *Lavelle, Kremlin Contra NGOs?

Week 15 (May 8, 10) Foreign Policy

Suny: 521-525 (Migranyan), 526-529 (Duma); Herspring: 185-204, 259-293;

*Tsygankov, New Challenges for Putin’s Foreign Policy; recall McFaul, Russia and the West

Week 16 (May 15, 17) Western Strategy toward Russia

*Graham, AEI Remarks

*Goldgeier and McFaul, What to do with Russia?

May 22 Paper is due at noon