Politics 310-326

Russian Politics
Fall 2004
MWF 2-2:50, Friends 303
Prof. Chip Gagnon
324 Muller Center
tel. 274-1103
e-mail: 
Office hours: MWF 1-2 and by appointment
web site: www.ithaca.edu/gagnon/russia
Last revised 11/15/04

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Description

Russia has undergone tremendous changes over the past fifteen years and remains in a state of flux. Although the disintegration of the Soviet Union marked the end of a 70-year experiment to achieve modernization and industrial development outside the framework of the capitalist world system, the Russian Federation is still struggling with the restructuring of internal political and economic power, as well as with the question of Russia's place in the world and its relationship to the western system. Indeed, Russia is currently in the midst of another enormous experiment in political, economic and cultural transformation, processes from which we can learn much about democracy, capitalism and markets, and the relationship between culture and politics.

In the first few weeks of the course we trace the development of Russian politics from Tsarist times through the Soviet period, Mikhail Gorbachev and perestroika, and the new Russian state under Boris Yeltsin and his successor Vladimir Putin, looking at the internal conflicts and external forces that shaped the Soviet and Russian experiences. In the rest of the course we use the changes currently taking place in Russia as a prism through which to look at broader questions of the concepts of democracy, capitalism and markets. We also consider the question of culture and nationalism, in particular the "Russian idea" of a uniquely Russian path of development superior to the Western experience, and issues of Russia's relationship with the outside world.

Throughout the course we will be thinking about and discussing broader questions in the context of Russian politics, including: the tension between being part of a global economic and political system on the one hand and cultural specificities on the other; how this tension affects economic, cultural and foreign policies; the question of influence over other countries, or "empire"; the impact of policies of the "West" on the internal developments of countries in the "periphery"; problems and challenges of democratization and capitalism, and the at times problematic relationship between the two.

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Course Materials

Required books (at IC Bookstore)

• Mary McAuley, Soviet Politics, 1917-1991
• Rose Brady, Kapitalizm: Russia's Struggle to Free Its Economy
• Janine Wedel, Collision and Collusion: The Strange Case of Western Aid to Eastern Europe
• Boris Kagarlitsky, Russia under Yeltsin and Putin
• Anna Politkovskaya, A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya

Other required readings:

• Most of the rest of the readings are in a course reader, a packet of photocopies. Page numbers listed in reading assignments refer to the Course Reader, unless otherwise indicated. The course reader can be purchased for $9 in the Politics Dept. office at 309 Muller Center, cash or check made out to Ithaca College.
• You are also expected to keep up with events in Russia by reading Russia-related web sites, including newspapers, which can be reached here.
• Films: We will see two or three feature length films:
  • Burnt by the Sun (which won the 1994 Academy Award for best foreign language film), about Stalinism, by director Nikita Mikhalkov.
    Wed 9/8, 7pm CNS 115
    Thur 9/9, 7pm CNS 112
  • Prisoner of the Mountains, by Russian filmaker Sergei Bodrov, set during the first (Yeltsin) war in Chechnya.
    Tuesday 11/16, 7pm in CNS 115
    Wednesday 11/17, 7pm in CNS 115

Readings listed as "Required" are mandatory and serve as background for class discussions.  The readings are of varying complexities; some are quite difficult.  If you have any questions on the readings, please ask in class, stop by my office, or e-mail me.  I would suggest that you take notes on the readings as you do them, including questions about the reading or things that are unclear.  The amount of reading is generally small enough that you should have time to carefully read and take notes on the readings before each class.

This is a reading-intensive course. I expect you to do the readings and be prepared for each class. If I perceive a pattern of neglect in this area, I reserve the right to unilaterally drop you from the class.

I may also hold unscheduled "pop" quizzes on the readings.

If you do not understand the readings after we discuss them in class, please see me immediately.  Some of the readings are very challenging, and I expect you to speak with me if anything is not clear.

Reading

What does "doing the readings" mean?

It doesn't mean just sitting down and mechanically going through the articles; that's a sure way to make even an interesting article boring.

Reading is an active and interactive process between the reader and the text.  If you're really reading a text you are also reacting to it.   I've included a wide range of texts in order to provoke a wide range of responses from readers.

Reading should also be a reflective process.  To really understand an article deeply it is usually necessary to read it and think about it, and then read it again, and think about it, and discuss it with others, write about it and read it yet again.  I've found that even after many readings, when I read a text in order to explain it to someone else I get new perspectives on the author's arguments and assumptions, on the text's strengths and weaknesses.

So when I say "do the readings," I mean "engage yourself with the ideas of the text."  I understand that some of the texts are quite complex and that not all of them are entertaining.  But struggle is part of the reading experience.  If something's not clear, if it's confusing, talk about it with others outside of class, and/or bring it up in class.  As I mentioned above, taking notes on a text while you read it or re-read it is also a very good way to engage the text and to make sure you understand it.

Grading

The final grade in the course will be determined by:

• Class participation (20 percent): This part of the final grade will be based on participation in class, which includes:
  • Attendance. I expect students to be present at every class. For every absence after the fourth one, your final grade will be reduced by one grade (that is, from an A to an A-, for example).
  • Being prepared. I expect you to have done the assigned readings for the day and to have thought about them before class.
  • Participation. Classroom discussion of readings and current events related to Russia is a key part of the learning process. By actively taking part you also improve your chances of doing well on the written assignments.
• Short essays (25 percent). Over the course of the semester I'll ask you to write short essays reacting to readings or current events in Russia.
  • Due Date: F 9/17: Read Gorbachev's article on Perestroika (assigned for 9/17). In a 2-3 page essay answer the following questions: Why did Gorbachev start on the path of reform? What were his goals? What were the obstacles he foresaw? How did he think they could be overcome? (5 percent)
  • Due M 10/11: Written assignment on Brady, Kapitalizm (10 percent) (Handed out in class)
  • Due W 11/10: Written assignement on McDaniels chapters on the "Russian Idea" (10 percent)
• Film reviews (5 percent). An essay on each of the two or three feature-length films we'll see during the semester. Each essay should be 2-3 pages doubled spaced, and link the images and themes of the films to what we've read and discussed in class. This will be discussed in greater detail in class.
  • Due F 9/14: Film review of Burnt by the Sun
  • Due M 11/29: Film review of Prisoner of the Mountains
• Midterm exam. (20 percent). Friday September 24. The midterm will cover readings and class discussions covering the Soviet period (1917-1991).
• Final exam (30 percent). The final will be a take-home exam, due final exams week. It will be an essay question in which you will be asked to synthesize what you have learned from the range of readings in the second half of the course.

Please note:

• The grade on written assignments is reduced by one grade for each day an assignment is late.
• You cannot pass the course unless you have handed in all written assignments.

Meaning of grades:⁽¹⁾
A = excellent: intense effort and remarkable achievement.
B = good: good effort and pretty good understanding
C = okay: barely adequate amount of effort or effort that is somewhat misfocused or mistargeted
D = inadequate effort or mistargeted effort
F = little or no effort or complete misunderstanding of expectations

If you get below a C, you should immediately come to see me so we can discuss your paper or exam.

Questions to keep in mind over the course of the semester:

• Why did the Soviet Union's demise come about peacefully? Why did the ruling party not attempt to prevent the collapse?
• What does democracy mean? What's the relationship between political democracy and a capitalist economy? How are the contradictions between the two dealt with?
• What are the political, economic, and cultural factors that have come into play in the process of democratization in Russia?
• How has the outside world influenced developments within Russia?
• What are the continuities and discontinuities with the past in Russia under Yeltsin and Putin?

If you have any questions about the class, the readings, the discussions or anything else, I will be more than happy to meet with you either during office hours or at some other time.

If at any time you do not understand the readings, lectures or discussions, please come and see me immediately! To schedule another time please see me after class or contact me by e-mail () or phone (274-1103).

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Class Assignments

I. Introduction

W 8/25 Why Study Russia?

II. From Tsarism to Yeltsin

An overview of the Russian and Soviet experiences. In this overview we'll look at the external factors as well as conflicting forces within Russia and the Soviet Union that have shaped and are shaping that country's life.

F 8/27 Tsarist Russia and the dilemma of modernization
Required reading:
McAuley, "Autocracy" in CR, pp.4-12
Suggested reading:
Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons
Nikolai Chernyshevsky, What Is to Be Done?
Fyodor Dostoyevskii, Notes From the Underground
Dostoyevskii, The Possessed
To think about:
Why were there two major revolutions in Russia in 1917?

M 8/30 The Russian Revolution
Required reading:
McAuley, Chapter 1, "1917: Revolution"
McAuley, "Socialism and Democracy", pp.13-27
Figues, "Burying the Bones", pp.28-36
Suggested reading:
John Reed, Ten Days that Shook the World
To think about:
Why did the Bolsheviks come out on top? What is socialism?
 

W 9/1 The Soviet 1920s: Civil War, NEP, and Industrialization
Required reading:
McAuley, Chapter 2, "State-Building: The Leninist System" and Chapter 3, "Industrialization, Collectivization, and the Stalinist State"
Suggested reading:
Mikhail Bulgakov, White Guard
To think about:
The challenges facing the Soviet leadership in the 1920s and 1930s

F 9/3 Stalinism: Terror
Required reading:
McAuley, Chapter 4, "Terror"
Macqueen, "Survivors", pp.37-45
Suggested reading:
Anatoli Rybakov, Children of the Arbat
Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Cancer Ward
Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
To think about:
Why did terror happen? Why did some people retain their faith in the system?

M 9/6 Labor Day: No Class

W 9/8 Film: Burnt by the Sun
Wed 9/8, 7pm CNS 115
Thur 9/9, 7pm CNS 112

F 9/10 Discussion of Burnt by the Sun
Required reading:
Cohen, "The Stalin Question Since Stalin", pp.46-70
"An Interview with Nikita Mikhalkov", pp.71-75
To think about:
The continued political relevance of the Stalin question.
Film Review of Burnt by the Sun due.

M 9/13 Khrushchev and Reform
Required reading:
McAuley, Chapter 5, "Khrushchev and Party Rule"
Gessen, "My Grandmother the Censor", pp.76-84
To think about:
Why did Khruschev set about changing the system?

W 9/15 Brezhnev and the Era of Stagnation
Required reading:
McAuley, Chapter 6, "The Administrative-Command System under Brezhnev"
Hansson and Liden, "Moscow Women", pp.85-99
Suggested reading:
Carola Hansson and Karin Liden, Moscow Women
Vassilii Aksyonov, The Burn
Aksyonov, The Island of Crimea
To think about:
Why did Brezhnev stop Khrushchev's changes? What was the result?
 

F 9/17 Gorbachev: Early years
Required reading:
McAuley, Chapter 7, "Perestroika and the End of Party Rule"
Gorbachev, "Perestroika: Origins, Essence, Revolutionary Character", pp.100-116
In Class:
The Second Russian Revolution: The Yeltsin File
To think about:
Why did Gorbachev undertake his radical reforms? Why did the Communist Party support him?

Essay on Gorbachev's Perestroika due. (5 percent of final grade; See above for assignment connected with Gorbachev reading)
 

M 9/20 Beginning of the end of the USSR
Required reading:
McAuley, Chapter 8, "Dispersal of Power"
Gorbachev, "The lessons of the coup", pp.117-121
To think about:
Why was the coup unsuccessful?
 

W 9/22 The Collapse of the USSR / Conclusions
Required reading:
Dallin, "Causes of Collapse of the USSR", pp.122-134
 

F 9/24  Exam (20 percent of final grade)

III. Democracy and Democratization

The collapse of the Soviet system came with great hopes for the birth of democracy in Russia. But what is democracy? What does democratization mean? How does a country democratize? Is Russia now a democracy?

M 9/27 What is Democracy?
Required reading:
"The Democratic Ideal", pp.135-137
Kesselman, "What Democracy Is and Is Not", pp.138-142

W 9/29 Transition to Democracy
Required reading:
Chandler, "Democratisation", pp.143-151

F 10/1 Russian Politics: Institutions, Parties and Elections
Required reading: in CR, pp.152-171
Links of interest:
Russian Political Resources On-line 

M 10/4 The Yeltsin Years
Required reading:
Dunlop, "Sifting through the Rubble of the Yeltsin Years", pp.172-190
Yeltsin, "A Normal Country", pp.191-197

W 10/6 From Yeltsin to Putin
Required reading:
Reddaway and Glinski, "Shaky Foundations in the House of Yeltsin", pp.198-212

IV. Markets and Capitalism

The other side of the transformation of Russia is in economics. The old command economy is in the process of being replaced by a market-based capitalist system. What are capitalism and markets? How can they be created? What is the impact of such a transformation? What form is it taking in Russia? What is the relationship with democratization?

F 10/8 - W 10/13 Economic reform
Required reading
For Friday: Brady, Kapitalizm, Chapters 1-3
For Monday: Brady, Chapter 4
For Wed, Brady Chapters 5-7
Essay on Kapitalizm due Wednsday 10/13 (10 percent of final grade)
Assignment handed out in class

F 10/15 Fall Break, no class

M 10/18 "Shock Therapy"
Required reading:
Murrell, "What is Shock Therapy? What did it do in Poland and Russia?", pp.217-230

W 10/20 - M 10/25 From Yeltsin to Putin: Alternative view
Required reading:
Kagarlitsky, Russia under Yeltsin and Putin
for W 10/20 Chapters 3-4
for F 10/22 Chapters 7-8
for M 10/25 Chapters 9, 10, conclusion

W 10/27 - F 10/29 The West's role in the economic transition
Required reading:
Wedel, Collision and Collusion (Introduction, Chapters 1, 2, 4)
"Feds sue Harvard for $120 million", p.236
For W 10/27: Intro and Chapters 1-2
For F 10/29: Chapter 4, "Feds sue Harvard"
Suggested reading:
Wedel, Chapter 6

M 11/1 Reform on the ground: Workers
Required reading:
Ashwin, "Redefining the Collective: Russian mineworkers in transition", pp.237-249

W 11/3 Reform: Conclusions
Required reading:
Reddaway and Glinski, "Market Bolshevism, a historical interpretation," pp.251-260
Taibbi, "Oligarchs R Us", pp.233-235

V. Alternatives to Liberal Democracy: The Russian Idea and Russian Nationalism

A very strong intellectual current in Russia has since the 19th century opposed the view of Russia as European, proposing rather that Russia is a special, unique place with Russian values superior to those in the materialist, individualistic and decadent West. This "Russian Idea" has also been taken up by various nationalist and communist political forces. In this section we look at one interpretation of Russian and Soviet experiences, as well as the present situation, through the lens of this Russian Idea.

F 11/5 Culture and politics: The Russian Idea
Required reading:
McDaniels, "The Russian Idea", pp.261-278

M 11/8  Russian Idea: Gorbachev
Required reading:
McDaniels, "Gorbachev and the Failure of Reform", pp.279-287

W 11/10 Russian Idea: Yeltsin
Required reading:
McDaniels, "The Failure of Yeltin's Reform", pp.288-301
Assignment on McDaniels due (10 percent of final grade)
 

F 11/12 Russia between East and West: Youth culture
Required reading:
Pilkington, excerpts from Looking West? Cultural Globalization and Russian Youth Cultures, pp.302-314


M 11/15 Russia: East or West?
Required reading:
Pelevin, "Moscow Dynamo", pp.315-334
Cowley, "Gogol À Go-Go" (article about Pelevin), pp.335-337
To think about:
In this somewhat bizarre story, Pelevin, a contemporary Russian novelist, is addressing the question of Russia's future, especially in light of its relations with the outside world. What is the motivation of Serdyuk, the main character? What does this story say about Russia's identity?
Links of interest:
Other stories by Pelevin translated into English

VI. Chechnya: Test of Russian Federalism

Russia and then the Soviet Union has been a multinational empire made up of many nationalities. The breakup of the Soviet Union has changed the traditional position of Russians in the empire from a bare majority (at times a minority) to a large majority (now 85 percent of Russia's population). We look at the one case of attempted separatism: Chechnya.

Film "Prisoner of the Mountains"
Tuesday 11/16, 7pm in CNS 115
Wednesday 11/17, 7pm in CNS 115

W 11/17 Chechnya: Test of the federation and of democratic politics
Required reading:
Derluguian, "Introduction: Whose Truth" in Politkovskaya, pp.1-25
Putin, "Why we must act", p.338
Links of interest:
Official Chechnya Home Page
Chechen Republic On-line

F 11/19 (No class; see film scheduled above)
Chechnya and Russia
Required reading:
Politkovskaya, A Small Corner of Hell

M 11/22 - F 11/26 Thanksgiving break, no classes

M 11/29 - W 12/1 Chechnya continued
Discussion of Prisoner of the Mountain
Required reading:
Politkovskaya, A Small Corner of Hell
Taibbi, "Double Standards in Explaining Hatred", pp.360-361
Pyasetskaya and Bradner, "The Lost Boys" (including the photos), pp.339-349
Rubin, "Only you can save your sons", pp.350-359
Film review of "Prisoner of the Mountains Due

VII. Russia in the World

Russia traditionally has been a great power; after WWII the Soviet Union emerged as one of two superpowers. After 1991 Russia has again become merely a great power, within borders smaller than at any time in the past 500 years. We look at some of the foreign policy issues facing Russia.

F 12/3 Different views of Russia's Foreign Policy
Required reading:
Tsygankov, "The final triumph of "Pax Americana?", pp.362-374

M 12/6 No Class
(Film "Prisoner of the Mountains" Date and place of showing to be announced see above)

W 12/8 Putin and the world
Required reading:
TBA
 

VIII. Russia: The Future

F 12/10 The Future of Russia
Required reading: TBA

The final exam essay is due in my office, 324 Muller, during final exams week.

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