POLC
4360 Russian Politics                            

INTRODUCTION

This course examines political developments in the Russian Federation, which was established at the end of 1991 as a successor state to the Soviet Union. It assesses Russia's imperial past and the making and reshaping of national identity. The Soviet legacy and the complex problems of transitions to a democracy and market economy are investigated. How Russia’s institutions have changed, constitutional changes have been carried out, and the many nations and peoples in the Russian Federation have been integrated (or not) are key topics in this course. Towards the end of the course the parts played by supporters, collaborationists, and opponents of kremlin leadership are examined. Reading fiction and viewing Russian films provide additional insights into the cultural and societal transformations that have occurred in the first two decades of this century.

COURSE OBJECTIVES           

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Use, compare, and evaluate a variety of materials dealing with political issues, including news reports, digital media, opinion pieces, policy reports, and academic articles.
• Apply conceptual frameworks and theoretical perspectives from comparative politics to the case of Russia.
• Make your own arguments about the explanations for significant outcomes in Russian politics as well as predictions for the future.
• Not least, confront prejudices and implicit biases about Russia--thereby steering away from unsubstantiated russophobia--while taking a critical approach to the political system, its leadership, and its people.

WEEKLY ROUTINE

While this is an online course, it is not a self-paced course. We will all be going through this course together. After our introductory module the course is organized into fourteen weekly modules. Each of these fourteen modules contains a weekly assignment page and a weekly written discussion. (The fourteenth weekly discussion is optional.) The weekly assignment page will contain instructions for your reading and your viewing with the necessary links, as well as instructions for a Zoom meeting if we have one that week. Each short weekly assignment will be due by 5pm on Monday. Your work on these weekly assignments prepares you to actively and knowledgeably participate in our weekly written discussion which will run from Monday through Friday. I will lead this weekly discussion as a form of seminar where we can discuss the salient topics, building upon your understanding of the readings and lecture videos, and of course addressing your questions and concerns.

COURSE CONTENT

The content you must master in this course comes in several different forms: what I've written in the weekly module pages, lecture videos embedded on these pages, readings linked on these pages, books for purchase, and our weekly discussion:

What I've written on the assignment pages:

The weekly assignment pages will explain the week's purpose and themes. They will also provide introductions to the subject matter, define terms, and present other important points that will help you meet the week's objectives. All of this is often the equivalent of the introductory part of an in-class lecture, and it is just as important. These pages will also have the links to the other kinds of content described below, as well as to the weekly discussions.

Lecture videos:

The lecture videos I have created for this course have very specific purposes: presenting content that is not as accessible (or not available at all) in other forms. I might, for example, present a useful theory that is not encapsulated in a single reading-length article or chapter. I might explain how certain theoretical approaches you'll be reading relate to those you've already read. I include videos produced by authors of our texts and by other notable scholars. Some Modules will contain prerecorded lecture videos; others will not.

Assigned journal articles, book chapters, and reports available through Canvas links:

These readings, as well as the books for purchase, are essential. They and the lecture videos complement rather than duplicate each other. They are listed in assignment instructions.

Books for purchase:

The weekly assignment pages will tell you when you need to read specific chapters from these books.

Richard Sakwa, Henry E. Hale, & Stephen White (eds.), Developments in Russian Politics 9 (New York: Red Globe Press, 2019)

Tatyana Tolstaya, Aetherial Worlds: Stories (New York: Vintage, 2019)

Joshua Yaffa, Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition and Compromise in Putin’s Russia (New York: Tim Duggan Books, 2020)

Movies:

A fourth movie has been added to the three full-length feature films included in this course. The assignment pages will give details about the relevance of these movies.

Aleksei Balabanov, Brother 2 (Brat 2), 2000 (122 min.). Howard-Tilton Library (DVD 2018-0085); also available on YouTube.

Kantemir Balagov, Beanpole (Dylda), 2019 (127 min.). Available on Amazon Prime.

Andreas Horvath, Lillian, 2019 (130 min.). Available in Module 8 with one-time-only view of the movie.

Vera Storozheva, Traveling with Pets (Puteshestvie s domashnimi zhivotnymi), 2007 (97 min.). H-T Library digitized for use by Russian Politics students (DVD 2018-0091).

Weekly written discussions: 

The ideas, facts, and other points presented by me and your classmates in our written discussions are essential course content. You will be expected to be familiar with and able to make use of what comes up in our discussions. These discussions are not a pro forma activity.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Weekly assignments: These assignments are designed to help you actively engage with the course materials (readings and videos). The nature of the unit assignments will vary. Often you'll simply be asked to write answers in response to questions, based on the readings and/or videos. Other times, for example, you'll be asked to annotate one or more assigned readings in Perusall, writing your own questions or comments in the margins of the assigned book (which is Developments in Russian Politics) and responding to your classmates' questions and comments, all in this social annotation app. Whatever the nature of the assignment, your work will earn full credit as long as it demonstrates that you made a sincere effort clearly based on the assigned materials. After the first week I will periodically spot-check assignments to make sure you made this effort. If I notice a problem, however, I will closely examine your previous assignments and I may regrade them. Your grade for this course component will be based on how many of these you complete with a sincere effort. Late submissions will not be accepted, but the two lowest grades will be dropped, allowing you to miss two and still earn an A for this component of your course grade.

Weekly written discussions: You are expected to actively and regularly participate in each weekly discussion. But how do you earn credit? Here's a very rough rule of thumb: You will earn full credit for a week's discussion if you provide at least three useful contributions on at least two different days. In order to understand what these discussions are about and what a useful contribution would look like, see How Our Online Discussions Will Work.

Midterm Essays: You will write two midterm essays, one after four weeks of the course and the other after eight weeks. (An old-school syllabus might call these midterm exams but for greater precision I prefer midterm essays.) Each essay will present and support an argument in response to a prompt I will provide. You will write the essay in any two-hour period you choose over the designated weekend. This provides an opportunity for you to take what you've learned in the preceding four weeks and demonstrate what you can do with it. See this page for important information on the midterm essay.

Final essay: After the second midterm essay I will give you instructions for your final essay, which you will have the next several weeks to work on and which you will turn in at the end of the exam period. (This takes the place of a final exam.) This essay should not require outside research, but it will require mastery of course material. All students will write the final Registrar-scheduled exam (a prompt will be given five days earlier) providing up to a six-page essay. In addition, students who are taking the writing-intensive section will write an essay of up to twenty pages, presenting an outline and a first draft at earlier deadlines and revising it on my instructions. 

Extra credit: Completing all the weekly assignments (rather than missing two) earns you extra credit. The first student to notify me of a problem with a link (for an ongoing module) or anything similar will earn extra participation credit. Extra-credit can also be earned by producing a video presentation applying theories to this case; this must be proposed and approved on the Tuesday after the Labor Day holiday (September 7).

COURSE POLICIES

Grading scale: All of your grades in this course will be calculated according to a 100-point scale. Please look over the following scale and make sure that you understand it. This is probably different from 100-point grading scales you may have encountered before, but I use this in order to get a precise measurement of your performance in this course.

A         95-100%          

A-        86-94%           

B+       76-85%           

B         66-75%           

B-        56-65%           

C+       46-55%           

C         36-45%           

C-        26-35%           

D+       21-25%           

D         16-20%

D-        11-15   

F          less than 11%

Please keep this grading scale in mind when you see individual grades calculated in numeric form. All of your assignments as well as your final grade will be calculated using this scale. I prefer it for this course because it makes use of its full range to differentiate among different levels of quality of work.

Late work: Late work will not be accepted. Any assignment received after the deadline—even one minute after the deadline—will be considered late. The Canvas clock is the final word on the time stamp on all work. The only exception to this policy will be in case of an unexpected and unavoidable emergency, including serious illness. It is your responsibility to access readings, videos, and assignment instructions in advance and to maintain your computer and related equipment in order to access information and complete requirements. Equipment failures will not be an acceptable excuse for late or missed assignments.

Disabilities: Any students with disabilities or other needs who need special accommodations in this course are invited to share these concerns or requests with the instructor and should contact Goldman Center for Student Accessibility http://accessibility.tulane.edu or (504) 862.8433.

Academic misconduct: The Code of Academic Conduct applies to all undergraduate students, full time and part time, in Tulane University. Tulane University expects and requires behavior compatible with its high standards of scholarship. By accepting admission to the university, a student accepts its regulations (i.e., Code of Academic Conduct and Code of Student Conduct and acknowledges the right of the university to take disciplinary action, including suspension or expulsion, for conduct judged unsatisfactory or disruptive.

University Sexual Misconduct Response and Title IX Coordinator: A letter from Provost Robin Forman dated August 14 2020 describes changes required by the U.S. Department of Education, effective on this day.

"I am writing to you to share information about the new university policies regarding Title IX sexual misconduct. As we shared back in May, the U.S. Department of Education released its final regulations under Title IX that impose new requirements on higher education institutions and the ways we respond to reports of sexual misconduct. Tulane, along with every university and K-12 school, is required to be in compliance with these new requirements by today.
"The regulations have changed what falls within the federal rule’s definition of sexual harassment and narrowed the scope of Title IX. They also added additional due process requirements in the adjudication of formal complaints of sexual misconduct, including the process we must use for formal hearings.
"The majority of reports to the University of sexual misconduct fall outside the new scope of Title IX. However, all misconduct of a sexual nature that previously constituted a violation of University policy will continue to constitute a violation of University policy. What was prohibited sexual misconduct in our Code of Student Conduct and Equal Opportunity/Anti-Discrimination Policy yesterday is the same as it is today; the impact of the new rules is to those cases that fall within the scope of Title IX."

Among required changes, the Provost writes that "To ensure that the University's commitment to addressing sexual misconduct at Tulane is not tied exclusively to its obligations under Title IX, we have changed our Title IX Coordinator’s role to the University Sexual Misconduct Response and Title IX Coordinator."

Resources:

Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) (504) 314-2277  or The Line (504) 264-6074

Case Management & Victim Support Services (504) 314-2160 or srss@tulane.edu

Student Health Center (504) 865-5255

Tulane University Police (TUPD) Uptown-(504) 865-5911 Downtown–(504) 988-5531

Sexual Aggression Peer Hotline and Education (SAPHE) (504) 654-9543