Political Science: Soviet Politics

Examines varied topics in the field of comparative politics. May repeat for credit with different content. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years. Prerequisite: POLS 1700 or POLS 1017.

Prereqs enforced by system: POLS 1700 or POLS 1017; Minimum Sophomore standing. PACE students by permission and override.

I am very excited to offer a course on the politics of the Soviet Union from its inception to its demise. We will begin with an analysis of communist theory so that we can eventually evaluate the Soviet Union’s progress on its journey toward a communist state. We will then explore the politics of the formation of the Soviet federation, including the Bolshevik Revolution and subsequent Civil War. In forming a state, the Bolsheviks also formed an economy so we will also investigate the evolution of the Soviet economy as it moved from capitalist to command. The brutal means Stalin adopted to ensure this transition - collectivization of agriculture and rapid industrialization - and the brutal means he adopted to ensure his complete control over society - the great purges - will be a critical part of our study. Additional topics we will cover include Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization and collective social control efforts, the stagnation and dissent that flourished during Brezhnev’s term, and the reforms Gorbachev initiated that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The second part of the course will cover special topics that span time, including the ‘Woman Question,’ scientific atheism and religion, environmental policies and movements, and the nationalities question. The course will conclude with a discussion of the Soviet Union’s collapse. A central theme of this class is the social, political, and economic mechanisms utilized by the Soviet state to control non-conformist behavior and the extent to which these mechanisms were in fact effective.

Provide students with an understanding of the Soviet Union’s complex political system. Provide students with an understanding of authoritarian politics in general. Provide students with a context within which they can reflect on the role and limits of citizens in social transformation within an authoritarian political system.

TBD, but I can say with assurance that there will be weekly reading quizzes (students can use notes they have taken on the readings) and an in-class final exam.