PSC 241 - Russian Politics

Course Units: 1

Anyone who follows the news might reasonably conclude that Russian politics-both international and domestic-are paranoid, aggressive, criminal, and underhanded. A series of questions are raised: Do all Russian politics revolve around the personal power of Vladimir Putin? Is Putin more like a criminal than a typical political leader? Does he personally call for his political opponents to be murdered? What is the significance of his KGB background? Did Russia help elect Donald Trump? How and why? While our efforts to answer these questions will not result in definitive answers, we will develop an understanding of Russia on its own terms, as a country with its own rules that stem from its culture and history and that give prominence to informal politics. We will examine these informal networks of power through topics including state power, authoritarianism, political economy, nationalism, foreign policy, organized crime, and the ordinary politics between and among elite opposition groups as well as between state and society. CC: SOCS