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PLCP 3210. Russian Politics
Spring 2013
Clark 108
Syllabus
Mr. Lynch
Mondays/Wednesdays, 2-3:15 pm
Office hours: Mondays, 12:15-1:45 pm; Wednesdays, 3:30-5 pm,
in Gibson S397 (South Lawn)
This course offers an interpretation of Russian politics, in both historical and contemporary perspective. There will be in-class essay examinations on
Wednesday, February 20 and Monday, April 1, as well as a take-home essay due on
Monday, April 29 and a take-home final essay due on Monday, May 6 th by 5 pm in my office at S397 Gibson/South Lawn. We shall also hold open-ended “Q & A” type review sessions on Monday, February 18 th and Wednesday, March 27 th . All assignments will be analytical essays conducted on an open-book, open-notes basis.
Work will be evaluated according to the following criteria: degree of command of readings and lectures, respectively; incisive and coherent analytical faculty, as
well as sound and original judgment. A grade of “A” denotes excellence on all counts. Please keep in mind that a grade of “B” denotes “good” performance. Each assignment will count equally, i.e., 25% each.
The following books have been ordered for purchase from the University Bookstore:
Richard Pipes, Russia Under the Old Regime
Theodore H. von Laue, Why Lenin? Why Stalin? Why Gorbachev?
Martin Malia, The Soviet Tragedy
Lilia Shevtsova, Russia: Lost in Transition; the Yeltsin and Putin Legacies
Thomas Remington, Politics in Russia (7 th edition, 2012)
Richard Rose et al., Popular Support for an Undemocratic Regime: the Changing
Views of Russians
All other readings are available on the course Collab site.
Schedule of Classes
Monday, January 14: Introduction to the Class.
Wednesday, January 16: Geographical Influences on Russian Political Development.
Read: Pipes, Russia Under the Old Regime, 1-26; Hill and Gaddy, The Siberian Curse,
26-56 (Collab); Lynch, How Russia is Not Ruled, 18-46 (Collab).

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Monday, January 21: Martin Luther King Day observed; no class!
Wednesday, January 23: Patrimonialism as Regime Type.
Read: Pipes, 27-83; Vernadsky, the Mongol Impact on Russia (Collab).
Monday, January 28: Anatomy of the Russian Patrimonial Regime.
Read: Pipes, 84-170.
Wednesday, January 30: The Russian Political Accomplishment.
Read: Pipes, 171-248; Poe, The Russian Moment (Collab).
Monday, February 4: The Russian Dilemma.
Read: Wesson, The Russian Dilemma (Collab); von Laue, Why Lenin? Why Stalin? Why
Gorbachev? 1-26.
Wednesday, February 6: Toward the Russian Revolution: A Classic Crisis of Political
Development.
Read: Pipes, 249-318; Malia, The Soviet Tragedy, 21-78; von Laue, 27-73.
Monday, February 11: The Russian Revolutions (1905 and 1917); Class and
Nationalist Revolts.
Read: Malia, 81-138; Pipes, ch. 11, 1917 and the Disintegration of Russia (Collab).
Wednesday, February 13: The Anatomy of Lenin’s Political System, 1917-1924.
Read: Malia, 139-176; von Laue, 73-123; Carr, The Soviet Impact on the Western
World (Collab).
Monday, February 18: In-class Review: come prepared for a free-wheeling “Q & A” session.
Wednesday, February 20: In-class essay examination #1.
Monday, February 25: The “New Economic Policy” (NEP) and the Rise of Stalin.
Read: Malia, 177-226; Theen, Lenin, 120-160 (Collab); von Laue, 193-222.
Wednesday, February 27: Stalinism.
Read: Malia, 227-314; von Laue, 193-222.
Monday, March 4: Khrushchev & De-Stalinization.
Read: Malia, 315-350; Taubman, ch. 11, Khrushchev, 270-299 (Collab).
Wednesday, March 6: Why Gorbachev? The Brezhnev Legacy.
Read: Malia, 351-401; von Laue, 164-183; Arbatov, The System, ch.9 (Collab).
Monday, March 11 and Wednesday, March 13: Spring Break—No Classes!

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Monday, March 18: Gorbachev’s Political and Economic Strategies.
Read: Malia, 405-444; Lynch, Soviet and Chinese Reform Strategies: Deng and
Gorbachev Compared (Collab).
Wednesday, March 20: Soviet Collapse.
Read: Malia, 445-490; Matlock, Autopsy of an Empire (Collab).
Monday, March 25: Privatization or Piratization? Stealing the Soviet State.
Read: Malia, 491-520; Goldman, Piratization of Russia (Collab); Varese, Is Sicily the
Future of Russia? (Collab).
Wednesday, March 27: In-class Review: come prepared for another free-wheeling
“Q & A” session.
Monday, April 1: In-class essay examination #2.
Wednesday, April 3: Dilemmas of Russia’s “Transition” to Democratic Capitalism.
Read: Motyl, Dilemmas of Independence, 51-75 (Collab); Mendelsohn, Democratic
Assistance and Russia’s Transition (Collab); Stiglitz, Globalization and its Discontents,
33-65 (Collab).
Monday, April 8: The Russian 1990’s as a “Time of Troubles.”
Read: Shevtsova, Russia: Lost in Transition, 1-46; Remington, Politics in Russia (7 th edition), 1-55.
Wednesday, April 10: Chechnya and Russian Politics.
Read: Shevtsova, 47-159.
Monday, April 15: The Political Socialization of Vladimir Putin.
Read: Lynch, Vladimir Putin and Russian Statecraft, 1-26 (Collab); Remington, 87-
149; Shlapentokh, Hobbes and Locke at Odds in Putin’s Russia (Collab).
Wednesday, April 17: The Anatomy of Putin’s Political Machine.
Read: Remington, 219-250; Richard Rose et al., Popular Support for an Undemocratic
Regime, 64-123; Khryshtanovskaya, Putin’s Militocracy (Collab).
Monday, April 22: Russian Elections and the Problem of Political Succession.
Read: Remington, 56-86; Rose et al., 1-63.
Wednesday, April 24: Economic Performance and Political Consequences.
Read: Rose et al., 142-176; Remington, 150-218.
Take-home essay assignment (#3) to be handed out; due in class on Monday,
April 29.

Monday, April 29: Foreign Policy and Domestic Politics: the Case of Russian Anti-
Americanism.
Read: Zimmerman, Russian People and Foreign Policy (Collab); Ambrosio, Insulating
Russia from a Color Revolution (Collab); Trenin, Russia Leaves the West (Collab).
Final take-home essay assignment to be handed out; due by Monday, May 6 th , 5 pm in my office (S397 Gibson/South Lawn).
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