PLS 491: Directed Independent Study
Russian Politics
Spring 2005
Course Rationale:
This course has been designed to give the student an opportunity to immerse himself further in the study of Russian politics. The course takes institutions as its focus, attempting to understand Russian politics as it is rather than viewing all elements of the country’s politics through the democratic-authoritarian lens. The course will only succeed if the student pushes to learn more, finding new sources of information, and seeking out new ways of analyzing Russia’s contemporary politics.
Required Books:
Michael McFaul, Nikolai Petrov, and Andrei Ryabov, eds., Between Dictatorship and Democracy: Russian Post-Communist Political Reform, Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2004.
Archie Brown, ed., Contemporary Russian Politics: A Reader, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Additional readings via the internet and the library’s online journal databases as assigned.
Course Requirements:
The student will come to each meeting with the instructor prepared to deliver a presentation on the assigned readings. He will consider in each presentation how Russia’s politics in the topic area might be compared to those of another country with which he is familiar. The student will also come to each course meeting with three articles from the contemporary English-language media about Russia (preferably Russian sources like Pravda http://english.pravda.ru/, Interfax http://www.interfax.ru or The Moscow Times at http://www.themoscowtimes.com. A list of Russian newspapers and magazines can be found at http://www.ru/eng/index.2.html?topic=602. The student is encouraged to follow Russian news via the BBC as well. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/) or three primary source publications from Russian internet websites which touch on the subject under consideration.
Two 15-page papers are due during the semester. The student will produce a first paper, due the week of February 28th, evaluating the political reforms of Gorbachev and Yeltsin. The student will produce a second paper, due the week of April 25th, examining economic reform in post-Soviet Russia. Both papers should be accompanied by a works cited/bibliography covering at least twenty quality sources on Russian politics. The student is encouraged to order resources through inter-library loan now, so that they will be available as references for the course papers.
Course Schedule:
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Week of: January 17 |
FIRST THOUGHTS AND COURSE ORGANIZATION Stephen Blank, “Is Russia a Democracy and Does it Matter?” World Affairs, Winter 2005, Vol. 167 Issue 3, p125. |
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January 31 |
ELECTIONS AND POLITICAL PARTIES McFaul, Chs. 1, 2, and 5. Brown, Chs. 14, 16. Luke March, “For Victory? The Crises and Dilemmas of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation,” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 53, No. 2, March 2001, 263-290 (EJS). |
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February 14 |
THE CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK AND LAW McFaul, Chs. 3, 4. Skim Brown, Section 3. Examine the Russian Constitution at http://www.russianembassy.org/RUSSIA/CONSTIT/. |
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February 28 |
CIVIL SOCIETY McFaul, Ch. 6. Paul Kubicek, “Civil Society, Trade Unions and Post-Soviet Democratisation: Evidence from Russia and Ukraine,” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 54, No. 4, June 2002, 603-634 OR Sarah Henderson, “Selling Civil Society: Western Aid and the Nongovernmental Organizational Sector in Russia,” Comparative Political Studies, Volume 35, Number 2 (March 1, 2002), pp. 139-167 (EJS). Learn about three different NGOs involved in political affairs in Russia. PAPER ONE DUE |
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March 14 |
MEDIA AND PUBLIC OPINION McFaul, Ch. 7, 11. Brown, Sec. 7 (particularly Chs. 20, 22). Examine polls at FOM http://english.fom.ru/ and Russia Votes http://www.russiavotes.org/. Read a selection of different Russian media outlets. Is there bias? If so, how can it be seen? |
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March 28 |
CENTER-PERIPHERY RELATIONS McFaul, Ch. 9, 10. Brown, Section 9. Learn about the Chechnya issue at Global Issues: http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/Chechnya.asp. |
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April 11 |
THE ECONOMY TODAY: PUBLIC OR PRIVATE? Brown, Section 6. William Tompson, “Putin’s Challenge: The Politics of Structural Reform in Russia,” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 54, No. 6, September 2002, 933-957 (EJS). Stefan Hedlund, “Property without Rights: Dimensions of Russian Privatisation,” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 53, No. 2, March 2001, 213-237 (EJS) A resource for more information on the Russian economy is the World Bank’s Russia office at http://www.worldbank.org.ru/. |
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April 25 |
RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY. ALSO, THE DEMOCRACY QUESTION Brown, Sections 10, 12. Andrei Schleifer and Daniel Treisman, “A Normal Country,” Foreign Affairs, March/April 2004 (BORROW FROM INSTRUCTOR). Allen C. Lynch, “The Realism of Russia’s Foreign Policy,” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 53, No. 1, January 2001, 7-31 (EJS). View the website of the Russian Mission to the UN for positions on a selection of contemporary issues http://www.un.int/russia/home.htm#english. Find further information on Russia’s international relations at the Carnegie Moscow Center at http://www.carnegie.ru/. PAPER TWO DUE |