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GO 327: Politics in Russia and the Post-Soviet States

Fall 2015

Prof. Kate Graney

Tu / Th 9:40-11

Ladd 307

Office Hours: Wednesdays 10-1 and by appointment

Office: Ladd 309

Email:

Office Phone: 580-5242

I will try to respond to your emails promptly, but please be advised that I tend not to respond late at night or until Monday morning on weekends.

Required Books:

Ukraine Crisis: What it Means for the West. Andrew Wilson. Yale University Press. 2014.

Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin. Fiona Hill and Cliff Gaddy. Brookings Institution Press. 2013.

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. Anthony Marra. Hogarth Press. 2013.

Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot. Masha Gessen. Riverhead Books. 2014.

Sex, Politics and Putin: Political Legitimacy in Russia. Valerie Sperling. Oxford University Press. 2015.

The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy. Masha Gessen. Riverhead Books. 2015.

Re-Orienting Europe: The Politics of Europeanization in the Former Soviet Union. Kate Graney. Manuscript. 2015. PDF via BLACKBOARD

Occasional articles / chapters in PDF form via BLACKBOARD

Course Description:

Why did Russia invade Ukraine? Was it really to prevent a NATO and/or NAZI occupation of Ukraine and, ultimately, Russia? Are we in the midst of “a new Cold War”? Should we be?

Why does Vladimir Putin enjoy the types of approval ratings that American politicians can only dream of? Does he really run Russia like a: corporation, personal fiefdom, KGB operation, Tsarist realm, totalitarian nightmare? Why does he so often take his shirt off?

Why do Russian men die at rates exponentially higher than Russian women (and represent a much smaller percentage of the population), but still almost totally dominate Russian political and economic life? How do women in the post-Soviet world attempt to influence politics and society given the hyper-masculinist political and social environment that they live in?

Where and what is Chechnya, and what do the two Chechen wars of the 1990s have to do with the Boston Marathon Bombings of 2013?

What are the 14 ex-Soviet republics, and does ANYTHING unite them except the fact that they used to be part of the USSR? Should we continue to look at these 15 countries together as a coherent unit? Who from these former Soviet states will get to join Europe, and who will not? Who wants to, and who does not? If they cannot or do not want to become European, what do they want to be? Will Russia, or China, let them be what they want to be?

WE WILL DISCUSS ALL THIS AND MORE !

Learning Goals. In this course, it is my hope and expectation that you will:

*Acquire knowledge of the historical, political, economic and social dynamics that shape political and private life in Russia and the 14 ex-Soviet republics, particularly to appreciate the social and cultural diversity that characterize this huge and complex area.

*Learn to think critically, creatively and independently about the matter at hand, including: the nature of political rule in Russia and the former Soviet states, the structure of the economy, international relations, and the role of gender, ethnicity and religion in the same.

*Gather, analyze, integrate, and apply varied forms of information—historical accounts, reports, primary materials, novels, visual sources. Understand and use evidence to make persuasive arguments in analytical essays and policy reports and presentations.

*Communicate effectively on paper and “in person”, through written assignments, class participation, and formal presentations to the class.

*Interact effectively and collaboratively with individuals and across social identities through collaborative work and respectful class participation.

*Engage in and take responsibility for learning; strive for excellence every day! This means embracing intellectual integrity, humility, and courage, fostering habits of mind and body that enable a person to live deliberately and well, and develop an enduring passion for learning! EVEN AT 9:40 IN THE MORNING ! 

Assignments:

  1. Class Participation (15%):

*Close and careful reading of texts

*Frequent and informed participation in DAILY class discussion

*Announced and Pop-quizzes, including MAP QUIZ ON

*In-class writing assignments and small-group activities

*ATTENDANCE AT ONE EVENING MOVIE SESSION: TH. NOV 5 @ 7pm in LIBRARY VIEWING ROOM

  1. Group Presentation on an Assigned Topic (15%) (see Handout)

Topics include:

*Social Conditions in Russia (Tues September 29)

*The Russian Oligarchs: Who are they and what do they own? (Thursday October 1)

*Russia’s Military: How Big and How Big a Threat?(Tuesday October 13)

*US-Russian Relations After the Cold War(Tuesday October 20)

*Crime and Punishment in Putin’s Russia (Tuesday November 10)

*Energy Politics in the Former Soviet Union (Tuesday November 24)

  1. Take-home Midterm (2 Analytical Essay Questions) (20%): DUE THURSDAY OCTOBER 29 (Analysis of the Putin Regime)
  1. Thematic Essay on Political Resistance in Russia and the Former Soviet Union(20%): DUE THURSDAY NOVEMBER 19
  1. In-Class Final Exam on Politics of the ex-Soviet Republics(30%): WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 16 @1:30

*Combination of short-answer and essay questions

Schedule of Daily Readings and Assignment Due Dates:

**Th Sept 10: Syllabus and Introduction

**Tu Sept 15: The Yeltsin Era: Political and Economic and Chaos

*Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin, Ch. 2 “Boris Yeltsin and the Time of Troubles”, p.22-37

*The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeanceand Survival, John Valliant, Knopf, 2010. Ch. 7, 73-86PDF ON BLACKBOARD

**Th Sept 17: The Yeltsin Era: The First Chechen War

**BBC NEWS TIMELINE “CHECHNYA”, (Focus on years 1922-1996) Available at:

*The Brothers: The Road to An American Tragedy, p. 1-36

*A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Ch. 12 (p.167-184) and Ch. 14 (193-199)

**Tu Sept 22: The Rise of Vladimir Putin

*Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin,Ch.1 (all) , Ch.3 (all) , Ch.5 (76-95 only), Ch.6 (106-120 only)

**Th Sept 24: How Does Putin Rule? Part I

*Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin, p.120-131, 174-183, 190-202

**Tu Sept 29: How Does Putin Rule? Part II (Economic Policy)

GROUP PRESENATION ON SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN RUSSIA

*Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin,p.132-152, 183-186

**Th Oct 1: How Does Putin Rule? Part III (Russia, Inc?):

GROUP PRESENTATION ON OLIGARCHS

*Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin,p. bottom 186-189, 203-224

*”The Fate of Every Citizen Is Being Decided,” Mikhail Khodorkovsky, NYTIMES, November 2, 2010, Available at:

**Tu Oct 6: What Does Putin Think? What Does He Want Russians to Think? History, Ideology and Media Control

*Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin, p. 63-75, 99-105, 265-280, bottom 326-328

*”What Should Students Know about Russia’s Enemies: Conspiracy Theories in Russian Geopolitical Textbooks.” Serghei Golunov, PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo #358, February 2015. PDF ON BLACKBOARD

*”Everyone Lies: The Ukraine Conflict and Russia’s Media Transformation,” Jill Dougherty, Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Discussion Paper #88, July 2014. PDF ON BLACKBOARD

**Th Oct 8:The Second Chechen War

**BBC NEWS TIMELINE “CHECHNYA”, (Focus on years 1997-2010) Available at:

*The Brothers: The Road to An American Tragedy, 37-65

*A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Ch. 10 (p.135-155), Ch. 18 (p.229-267), Ch. 23 (301-309), Ch. 24 (p.321-327 only)

**Tu Oct 13: Re-establishing Order in Chechnya and the Russian Military? Looming Threat of Islamic Radicalism?

GROUP PRESENTATION ON RUSSIAN MILITARY

*Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin, 331-341

*”Kadyrov’s Chechnya—Template, Test or Trouble for Russia’s Regional Policy?”, John Russell, Europe-Asia Studies, 63:3, 509-528. PDF ON BLACKBOARD

**Th Oct 15: Putin 2.0: What is Different? What’s the Same?

*Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin, p.227-265 and 312-326

*”Putin’s Rasputin,” Peter Pomerantsav, London Review of Books, VOl 33, #20, 20 October 2011, 3-6. PDF ON BLACKBOARD

**Tu Oct 20: Putin and America

GROUP PRESENTATION ON US-RUSSIAN RELATIONS

*Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin, p.285-311, 342-347

*”Countering Color Revolutions: Russia’s New Security Strategy and Its Implications for US Policy,” Dmitry Gorenburg, PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo #342, September 2014. PDF ON BLACKBOARD.

**Th Oct 22: Ukraine Crisis

*Ukraine Crisis: What it Means for the West, Introduction, p.38-98

**Tu Oct 27: Ukraine Crisis

*Ukraine Crisis: What it Means for the West, 99-160, 183-207

**Th Oct 29: Sex, Politics and Putin: TAKE HOME MIDTERM ON PUTIN DUE

*Sperling, Sex, Politics and Putin: Political Legitimacy in Russia, p.1-79

**Tu Nov 3:Sex, Politics and Putin

*Sperling, Sex, Politics and Putin: Political Legitimacy in Russia, p.80-221

**Th Nov 5: Sex, Politics and Putin: Pussy Riot: EVENING MOVIE @ 7pm in LIBRARY VIEWING ROOM : “I AM FEMEN”

*Sperling, Sex, Politics and Putin: Political Legitimacy in Russia, p.222-309

**Tu Nov. 10: Political Resistance Under Putin: Pussy Riot, Khodorkovsky

GROUP PRESENTATION ON CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN RUSSIA

*Gessen, Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot, p.97-224, Epilogue

*Adam Michnik and Mikhail Khordorkovsky Exchange Letters,” The New Republic, April 29, 2012, Available at:

**Th Nov 12: NO CLASS : PROF. GRANEY AT CONFERENCE

**Tu Nov 17: Introducing The “Former Soviet Union”

*Graney, Re-Orienting Russia: Chapter One, Two, PDF ON BLACKBOARD

**Th Nov 19: EU, NATO, and UEFA Enlargement

*Graney, Re-Orienting Russia: Chapter Three, Four, Five, PDF ON BLACKBOARD

**Tu Nov 24: Russia and Europe: ESSAY ON POLITICAL RESISTANCE DUE

*Graney, Re-Orienting Russia: Chapter Six (Pages TBA), PDF ON BLACKBOARD

GROUP PRESENTATION ON ENERGY POLITICS IN FORMER SOVIET UNION

**Th Nov 26: NO CLASS / THANKSGIVING : RELAX AND ENJOY !

**Tu Dec 1: The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

*Graney, Re-Orienting Russia: Chapter Seven, PDF ON BLACKBOARD

**Th Dec 3:Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova

*Graney, Re-Orienting Russia: Chapter Eight, PDF ON BLACKBOARD

**Tu Dec 8: The Caucasus: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan

*Graney, Re-Orienting Russia: Chapter Nine, PDF ON BLACKBOARD

**Th Dec 10: The Central Asian States: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan

*Graney, Re-Orienting Russia: Chapter Ten and Conclusion, PDF ON BLACKBOARD

**FINAL EXAM: WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 16 @ 1:30 in LADD 307