Results for OSPMOSC

Placements in areas such as banking, finances, consulting, journalism, language teaching, and technology. Introduction to Russian society and work experience. Evaluation and analysis of experience in final academic paper.

WW II on the eastern front, one of the bloodiest and most brutal wars in history. Focus is on the military and political conduct of the war, and the impact of the war on the Soviet society.

Foreign policy of the Russian Federation as it tries to establish its place in the post-communist world. Internal debates about where Russia belongs in the world; impact of military decline on Russian policy; rise of energy resources as a basis for Russian power.

Introduction to Moscow culture. City planning from the 15th century to the present: palaces, monasteries, churches, cultural institutions, and housing construction. Political, economic, and social context. Concept of a metropolis applicable to other world cities.

Developing interesting, worthwhile, and feasible social research projects focusing on Russia. Topic selection, literature review, research design, proposal writing. Group discussion of readings and of individual research project proposals.

Aut (Staff)

Classical views of how societies are hierarchically organized in ways that perpetuate social inequality in power, wealth, income, and prestige. Extent to which various socialist/communist societies eliminated social classes and inequalities, the extent and nature of social inequalities in the Soviet era, and the social bases of those inequalities. Comparison of inequalities in power and material well-being in the USSR and Russia with inequalities in other socialist, post-socialist, and transitional societies, especially China.

Processes shaping the former Soviet Union or the Commonwealth of Independent States, including Russia and the newly independent states of Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia. Economic and political models since the break-up of the USSR. Changing geopolitics of post-Soviet Eurasia: political regimes, economic development, security, energy relationships, post-Soviet societies, religion, and globalization.

Russian economic history in the 20th century. Reasons and logic for economic transformation, major components of postcommunist economic transformation doctrine, and results of practical implementation. Mechanisms of economic policy decision making in modern Russia, and patterns of and alternatives in economic development.

The idea of space as a key to understanding Russian politics and governance, economy, society, and culture. Phenomenology of Russian space: structure, topology, and features, including notions of enormity. Space in its relation to state power; how geography shaped Russian history and politics. Reification of space-state relationship on levels such as economy, politics and administration, security and social mobility, nationalism and imperialism, culture and language, and habits and ways.

Analysis of the opportunities and challenges for political, economic, and military cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Likelihood of SCO¿s aspirations being realized and the potential of its becoming a political and military counterbalance to the West. Issues related to national security and security perceptions of post-Soviet states and China, their economic and energy ambitions and needs, and the role of external players in the region.

The role of the leader in the Soviet and post-Soviet systems, the role of personality and career trajectories in the making of leaders; the impact and legacies of Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin in Soviet and post-Soviet political culture. Core readings will be biographies of these men.

Presentations in the present-day Russian print and broadcast media of key events, such as the 1917 Revolution, the Great Terror, the Second World War, the Thaw, the so-called years of stagnation, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Soviet and post-Soviet film, from art house to blockbuster, and from Oscar and Cannes winners Burnt by the Sun and Russian Arc to lesser known local productions such as Bimmer and Brother-2. Overview of contemporary Russian film directors.

Relations between Russia and the U.S. since the eighteenth century with an introduction covering the period prior to the American Revolution.