Department of European Studies & Modern Languages, Unit Catalogue 2010/11 |
EU20780: Soviet and post-Soviet Russia |
 Credits:
| 6 |
| Level:
| Intermediate |
| Period: | This unit is available in... |
| Semester 1 |
| Assessment:
| CW33ES67 |
| Supplementary Assessment: | Supplementary assessment information not currently available (this will be added shortly) |
| Requisites:
| |
| Description:
| Aims: The aim of this unit is to examine the character, evolution and collapse of the communist political order in the USSR and the subsequent construction of a post-communist political order in Russia, focusing particularly upon controversies of evidence and interpretation in order to develop skills in historical and political analysis. A second aim is to help students improve their essay and seminar techniques. Learning Outcomes: Students who complete the unit successfully will: * have a clear understanding of the historical evolution of the Soviet political and social order 1917-1991 and the Russian political and social order since 1991; * be familiar with the major academic debates about the nature of the Soviet polity and about the roles of actors, ideas and structures in its evolution and collapse; * be familiar with the major academic debates about the about the nature and problems of the postcommunist order and the factors driving its evolution; * have gained experience in analysis of primary and secondary sources; * have shown they can present an effective analysis of a particular controversy to a seminar and in essay form. Skills: Skills in critical analysis, conceptual thinking, precision in the use of written and spoken language, exercise of independent judgement, reasoned argument, teamwork and the planning/conduct/reporting of non-quantitative research are taught and assessed in this unit. Skills in effective learning are developed in this unit. Content: The establishment of Bolshevik power under Lenin 1917-1921; the New Economic Policy and the struggle for power in the Communist Party in the 1920s; Stalin's drive for industrialization and rule by terror in the 1930s-40s; the USSR in the Second World War; reform and its limits under Khrushchev and Brezhnev in the 1950s-70s; the structure and problems of the Soviet political system in the early 1980s; the origins, development and failure of Gorbachev's reform programme 1985-91; ethnic and social developments in the post-Stalin USSR and their bearing on the collapse of communism; Yeltsin's attempt to build a new political order in Russia; the impact of transition on Russian society; the character of postcommunist politics under Putin and Medvedev; the prospects for political development in Russia. Key texts: R. Service The Penguin History of Modern Russia: from Tsarism to the Twenty-First Century (Penguin: 2009); S. White et al (eds) Developments in Russian Politics 7 (Cambridge: 2010). |