Course Number

1570-01

Syllabus Date

Spring 2017

Department course is offered by

COPACE - College of Professional and...

Course description

COURSE DESCRIPTION: An interdisciplinary survey course that focuses on the major political, intellectual, ideological, social, cultural, and religious forces that have shaped Russia during the pre-revolutionary as well as post-revolutionary period. Chronologically, the course traces the origins of the Russian revolutionary movement and the politics of the autocracy and emancipation during the nineteenth century to the disintegration of the Soviet system in the early 1990's, the rise of Yeltsin, Putin and the Russian Federation. Themes covered include the nature of the Russian autocracy, the origins of the Russian revolutionary movement, the radicalization of Russian society, the assimilation of Marxian ideology and conversion to Leninism, the Russian economy, the origins of the Russian Revolution, the role of Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin, the New Economic Policy and the Stalinist Five Year Plans, the "Great Purges" of the thirties, the communization of Eastern Europe, the origins, development, and dissolution of the "Cold War," the evolution and development of totalitarianism, the de-Stalinization of Russia, the emergence of Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Putin and the emergence of the Russian Federation. The course also investigates Soviet foreign policy, Russian literature since the revolution, and a history of dissent in the post-Stalin era. In addition, students will cover a series of more contemporary topics from journal articles in the Russian Review, Slavic Studies, and Survey of Russian Studies. Contemporary issues such as the nationalities and ethnic issues, the restructuring of Russia, and the establishment of the Russian Federation will be considered. The course will conclude with the transfer of power from Boris Yeltsin to Vladimir Putin.

Document Type

Syllabus

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