Course Syllabus. BA Programme in Political Science

Transcription

1 Course Syllabus Title of the course Title of the Academic Programme Type of the course Prerequisites Contemporary Russian politics BA Programme in Political Science Core (mandatory) Major concepts in political science; Comparative politics. Note that the course can be successfully completed by the exchange students majoring in other academic fields, too (not necessarily in Political Science). ECTS workload 5 Total indicative study hours Directed Study Self-directed study Total Course Overview Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO) Teaching and Learning Methods This is a broad introductory course to Russian politics, but it gives a good general understanding of how Russia really works. The course deals with the cursed questions of Russian politics: Why do Russians support autocracy? (Or do they?) Is it good Russia is a presidential republic? What happened to Russian federalism? What about its opposition? Who were those people in the streets in , and what did they want? Where are they now? Why does Russia sometimes support the bad guys internationally? Are Russian courts as bad as they are told, and why? Did the 1990s' reforms fail or succeed? What about the 2000s'? Why do they turn the hot water off at summer? Are oligarchs still politically mighty? How much corruption is there and is it bad for development? In general, what's wrong with Russia? Is it the history? Is it the climate? Is it spoiled by its oil wealth? Maybe, is it in fact a completely normal country? The course shall constantly bring us back to how Russian politics interacts with Russian society and economy, but by its end students will get a firm grasp of how this triangle works. To achieve that, the course offers a reasonably vast reading of scholarly articles seasoned with ongoing political commentary and media reports. There are no strict prerequisites for the course, though some prior training in social sciences would make it a more rewarding enterprise. The learning outcomes achieved through this course fall into the following competences: PK-4: Student is capable of retrieving, collecting, processing and analyzing information relevant for achieving her goals. PK-8: Student is capable of executing applied analysis of the political phenomena and political processes - by using political science methods - and in support of practical decision making process. PK-9: Student is capable of reporting the results of the information retrieval and analysis, academic or applied research she/he has conducted: - in various genres (including reviews, policy papers, reports and publications pertaining to socio-political subject matter); - and depending on the target audience. The course consists of 15 lectures and 16 seminars (or discussion groups). Each lecture covers an important subject in Russian politics, some of them dealing with certain important episodes in the Russian political history, and some transcending the whole period of to

2 Content and Structure of the Course illustrate certain institutional features or recurrent problems in Russian politics. The seminars are sometimes focused on the reading for the class, and sometimes on a certain researchrelated task given to the students in advance. The seminars are therefore more interactive and include weekly discussion of the recent news, discussion of the compulsory reading, group presentations, etc. Topic / Course Chapter Total Directed Study Self-directed Study Lectures Tutorials 1 Introduction to Russian politics and its historical legacies 46 hours 4 lectures (8 3 DGs (6 64 hours 1.1 Introduction to the course. Brief overview of Russian political history ( s) 22 hours 2 lectures (4 16 hours 1.2 Late Soviet politics: 1970s to Gorbachev 12 hours 1 lecture (2 1.3 Perestroika 12 hours 1 lecture (2 2 Slugs, snakes and puppy-dogs' tails : What is Russian politics made of? Basic institutions of the Russian political system 86 hours 8 lectures (16 8 DGs (16 64 hours 2.1 Presidentialism 12 hours 1 lecture (2 2.2 Parties, media and opposition. Did they all fall victims to the president? 26 hours 2 lectures (4 3 DGs (6 16 hours 2.3 What else is Russian politics made of? Federalism 12 hours 1 lecture (2 2.4 How strong is the state? Corruption, bureaucracy and state building in Russia 12 hours 1 lecture (2 2.5 Siloviki: the power wielders 12 hours 1 lecture (2 3 Specific features of Russian politics today 24 hours 8 lectures (16 8 DGs (16 64 hours 3.1 What state weakness tells us about institutions and the rule of law? 24 hours 2 lectures (4 2 DGs (4 16 hours 3.2 Business and state in Russia. Oligarchs. Oil and resource curse in Russia 12 hours 1 lecture (2 4 Perspectives on Russian politics 34 hours 8 lectures (16 8 DGs (16 64 hours 4.1 Can society strike back? Protests and color revolutions 12 hours 1 lecture (2 4.2 Societal, economic and political sources of 22 hours 1 lecture (2 2 DGs (4 16 hours

3 autocratic resilience in Russia. A normal country? Total study hours 190 hours 15 lectures (30 16 DGs (32 12 Indicative Assessment Methods and Strategy While half of the course is lectures, the other half is a seminar which builds mostly on reading, so attendance and participation are essential. Each student is expected to complete all the readings each week and to contribute to the discussion during discussion groups. Class participation amounts to 20% of the final grade. (Note that it's not how often you speak, but what you say, too.) Another 10% comes from the weekly 'news report' where students choose five most interesting and important Russia-related political news from the previous week and present those news to the rest of the class in two-to-three people groups. Finally, there is also a team project that amounts to 20% of the grade the subject of the project might change from year to year, but typically this is a group presentation about one of the established Russian parties. (All of the team members receive the same grade regardless of their contribution.) At the same time, 30% of the grade comes from the reaction paper students write. Reaction paper is a review essay (1000 to 1500 words, or more) covering the readings for one class, criticizing it, etc. The author is expected to answer some basic questions, e.g. what are the central issues in the literature reviewed, which arguments the works put forth, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the papers under review. The important thing about reaction paper is that it should not merely summarize the works that it reviews (reaction paper is not an annotated bibliography), but should add something to it either in criticism, or in some interesting development of the arguments proposed, or both. (A minor, yet noteworthy thing is that the instructor is tough on plagiarism. Consult the HSE plagiarism policies on that.) It should also be well written. Students are expected to pick at least two readings from the list of suggested literature, but can substitute the other two (or more) with literature of their own choice. In this case they should consult the course instructor and have their suggested literature approved before they review it. The last 20% of the accumulated grade comes from the final in class essay students write upon completion of the course on one of the thirteen subjects covered in the course. Readings / Indicative Learning Resources The final grade consists of 65% of the accumulated mark (as outlined above) and 35% of the oral exam grade. Students whose accumulated grade is 7 and above can be released from taking the exam. 1 Introduction: Path dependence and critical junctures in Russian political development Puzzle of Russian political trajectory: role of political elites and the masses. What are the major critical junctures in Russian politics? Ostrow, Joel M., Georgiĭ Satarov, and Irina Khakamada The Consolidation of Dictatorship in Russia: An Inside View of the Demise of Democracy. Greenwood Publishing Group. Ch. 1. Pierson, Paul The Limits of Design: Explaining Institutional Origins and Change. Governance 13 (4): Gel man, Vladimir Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes. University of Pittsburgh Press. Ch. 1. Grigoriev, Ivan S., and Anna A. Dekalchuk Collective Learning and Regime Dynamics

4 under Uncertainty: Labour Reform and the Way to Autocracy in Russia. Democratization, September, doi: / Lynch, Allen C How Russia Is Not Ruled: Reflections on Russian Political Development. Cambridge University Press. Ch. 1. Historical Patterns of Russian Political Development, pp Late Soviet politics: 1970s to Gorbachev Basic institutions of the Soviet political system. Consolidation of personalist power under Brezhnev and the corruption of Soviet political institutions in the 1970s. Politburo structure and the leadership crisis of the early 1980s. Everyday life of the Soviet society. Kotkin, Stephen Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, Oxford University Press. Ch. 2, pp (Jockeying invalids) Chukovskaia, Lidiia Sofia Petrovna. Translated by Aline Werth. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. Ch. 9-10, pp Shlapentokh, Vladimir The Soviet Union: A Normal Totalitarian Society. Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 15 (4): doi: / Shlapentokh, Vladimir Public and Private Life of the Soviet People: Changing Values in Post-Stalin Russia. Oxford University Press. Ch. 3. The Soviet Individual in Official Political Life, pp Perestroika Perestroika: why did it fail, or did it? Brezhnevites v. Andropovites and the rise of Gorbachev. Intergenerational shift in Soviet political elites. Acceleration, glasnost' and the 1988 political reform. The August coup and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Kotkin, Stephen Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, Oxford University Press. Ch. 2, pp (The education of a true believer) Cohen, Stephen F Was the Soviet System Reformable? Slavic Review, Dallin, Alexander Causes of the Collapse of the USSR. Post-Soviet Affairs 8 (4): Fish, M Steven Democracy from Scratch: Opposition and Regime in the New Russian Revolution. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Ch. 2. The Transformation of Politics: A Historical Overview, pp Lynch, Allen C How Russia Is Not Ruled: Reflections on Russian Political Development. Cambridge University Press. Ch. 2. Soviet Legacies for Post-Soviet Russia, pp , constitutional crisis, devising the new constitution and Presidentialism State of political institutions in Parliamentarism in the Russian republic and balance

5 between the parliament and the president. Gaidar reforms and their consequences. The 1993 constitutional crisis and its resolution. Origins of the new constitution and presidentialism. Andrews, Josephine T When Majorities Fail: The Russian Parliament, Cambridge University Press. Ch 1. Introduction, pp Fish, M Steven Democracy Derailed in Russia: The Failure of Open Politics. Cambridge University Press. Ch. 7. The Institutional Problem: Superpresidentialism, pp Juan J. Linz The Perils of Presidentialism in Arend Lijphart, ed., Parliamentary Versus Presidential Government. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp Frye T A Politics of Institutional Choice. Post-Communist Presidencies. Comparative Political Studies 30(5): Parties, media and opposition. Did they all fall victims to the president? 5.1 Political parties in Russia. Where do the parties come from? Fate of the CPSU and the new communist party. The party of power. Types of opposition in Putin's Russia. Reuter, Ora John, and Thomas F. Remington Dominant Party Regimes and the Commitment Problem: The Case of United Russia. Comparative Political Studies 42 (4): doi: / Gel'man, Vladimir Political Opposition in Russia: A Dying Species? Post-Soviet Affairs 21 (3): doi: / x Golosov, Grigorii Political Parties in the Regions of Russia: Democracy Unclaimed. Lynne Rienner Publishers. Ch. 2-3, pp Hale, Henry The Origins of United Russia and the Putin Presidency: The Role of Contingency in Party-System Development. Demokratizatsiya 12 (2): Remington, Thomas Patronage and the Party of Power: President Parliament Relations Under Vladimir Putin. Europe-Asia Studies 60 (6): doi: / Media. What role did the media play in Russian politics in the 1990s? Oligarchs and the television. Statization of the media in the 2000s. Lipman, Masha Constrained or Irrelevant: The Media in Putin s Russia. Current History 104 (684):

6 Enikolopov, Ruben, Maria Petrova, and Ekaterina Zhuravskaya Media and Political Persuasion: Evidence from Russia. The American Economic Review 101 (7): Lipman, Masha, and Michael McFaul Putin and the Media. In Putin s Russia: Past Imperfect, Future Uncertain, edited by Dale R. Herspring, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. Gunitsky, Seva Corrupting the Cyber-Commons: Social Media as a Tool of Autocratic Stability. Perspectives on Politics 13 (1): doi: /s Shenderovich, Viktor, and Grigorii Liubomirov Kroshka Tsakhes (Little Zaches). Kukly (NTV). Chen, Adrian The Agency. The New York Times, June What else is Russian politics made of? Federalism Federalism by default : Soviet matryoshka federalism and chocolate-bar break-up after the Soviet collapse. The all-mighty governors and gubernatorial elections in the 1990s. Regional machines and the Fatherland All Russia party in Adverse effects of federalism on party formation. Defederalization of Russia and building governors into the power vertical. Golosov, Grigorii V The Regional Roots of Electoral Authoritarianism in Russia. Europe-Asia Studies 63 (4): doi: / Ross, Cameron Federalism and Electoral Authoritarianism under Putin. Demokratizatsiya 13 (3): Golosov, Grigorii Political Parties in the Regions of Russia: Democracy Unclaimed. Lynne Rienner Publishers. Ch. 3, pp Taylor, Brian D State Building in Putin's Russia: Policing and Coercion After Communism. Cambridge University Press. Ch. 4, pp Kahn, Jeffrey Federalism, Democratization, and the Rule of Law in Russia. Oxford University Press. Ch. 8, pp How strong is the state? Corruption, bureaucracy and state building in Russia Russia's surprisingly weak state. What is state weakness? State autonomy, state capacity and corruption. Is Russian state stronger under Putin than under Yeltsin? Attempts to reform the state: administrative reforms. Volkov, Vadim Violent Entrepreneurship in Post-Communist Russia. Europe-Asia Studies 51 (5): Easter, Gerald M The Russian State in the Time of Putin. Post-Soviet Affairs 24 (3):

7 Evans, Peter, and James E Rauch Bureaucracy and Growth: A Cross-National Analysis of the Effects of Weberian State Structures on Economic Growth. American Sociological Review, Libman, Alexander, and Anastassia Obydenkova Communism or Communists? Soviet Legacies and Corruption in Transition Economies. Economics Letters 119 (1): doi: /j.econlet Brym, Robert J., and Vladimir Gimpelson The Size, Composition, and Dynamics of the Russian State Bureaucracy in the 1990s. Slavic Review 63 (1): doi: / Libman, Alexander, and Anastassia V. Obydenkova CPSU Legacies and Regional Democracy in Contemporary Russia. Political Studies, doi: / Siloviki: the power wielders Who are the 'siloviki'? Development of the power ministries: late Soviet to contemporary Russia. Budgets and organizational structure. The siloviki recruiting under the Putin administrations. A 'militocracy' perspective to Russian politics. Effects of the siloviki on Russian economic development. Kryshtanovskaya, Olga, and Stephen White Putin s Militocracy. Post-Soviet Affairs 19 (4): doi: / x Taylor, Brian D State Building in Putin s Russia: Policing and Coercion After Communism. New York: Cambridge University Press. Ch. 2. The Power Ministries and the Siloviki, especially pages and Taylor, Brian D The Russian Siloviki & Political Change. Daedalus 146 (2): Renz, Bettina Putin s Militocracy? An Alternative Interpretation of Siloviki in Contemporary Russian Politics. Europe-Asia Studies 58 (6): doi: / Rivera, David W, and Sharon Werning Rivera The Militarization of the Russian Elite under Putin: What We Know, What We Think We Know (but Don t), and What We Need to Know. Problems of Post-Communism, Черкесов, Виктор Нельзя Допустить, Чтобы Воины Превратились в Торговцев. Газета Коммерсантъ, September What state weakness tells us about institutions and the rule of law? Formal and informal institutions in Russian politics. Are courts another victim of the regime? How is law made in Russia? Ledeneva, Alena V Can Russia Modernise?: Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance. Cambridge University Press. Ch. 5, pp Paneyakh, Ella The Practical Logic of Judicial Decision Making. Russian Politics & Law 54 (2 3): doi: /

8 Solomon, Peter H Judicial Power in Authoritarian States: The Russian Experience. In Rule by Law: The Politics of Courts in Authoritarian Regimes, edited by Tom Ginsburg and Tamir Moustafa. Cambridge University Press. Gel man, Vladimir Subversive Institutions, Informal Governance, and Contemporary Russian Politics. Communist and Post-Communist Studies 45 (3 4): doi: /j.postcomstud Ledeneva, Alena V Russia s Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange. Cambridge University Press. Ch. 4, pp Gel man, Vladimir The Unrule of Law in the Making: The Politics of Informal Institution Building in Russia. Europe-Asia Studies 56 (7): doi: / Business and state in Russia. Oligarchs. Oil and resource curse in Russia What is resource curse and why is it a curse? Dynamics of Russian economic and fiscal dependence on resource rent. Economic and political effects of the oil dependence. Volkov, Vadim Standard Oil and Yukos in the Context of Early Capitalism in the United States and Russia. Demokratizatsiya 16 (3): Yakovlev, Andrei The Evolution of Business State Interaction in Russia: From State Capture to Business Capture? Europe-Asia Studies 58 (7): doi: / Orttung, Robert W Business and Politics in the Russian Regions. Problems of Post- Communism 51 (2): Hellman, Joel Winners Take All: The Politics of Partial Reform in Postcommunist Transitions. World Politics 50 (2): Can society strike back? Protests and color revolutions Who are the Russian protesters and what do they want? Why revolutions happen elsewhere but not in Russia? Robertson, Graeme B Managing Society: Protest, Civil Society, and Regime in Putin s Russia. Slavic Review, Hale, Henry Democracy or autocracy on the march? The colored revolutions as normal dynamics of patronal presidentialism. Communist and Post-Communist Studies 39(3), Finkel, Evgeny, and Yitzhak M. Brudny No More Colour! Authoritarian Regimes and Colour Revolutions in Eurasia. Democratization 19 (1): doi: /

9 Robertson, Graeme B Protesting Putinism. The Election Protests of in Broader Perspective, Problems of Post-Communism 60(2): Volkov D The Protesters and The Public. Journal of Democracy 23(3): Koesel, Karrie J, and Valerie J Bunce Putin, Popular Protests, and Political Trajectories in Russia: A Comparative Perspective. Post-Soviet Affairs 28 (4): Societal, economic and political sources of autocratic resilience in Russia. A normal country? Do Russians support their political regime? What are the major correlates of this support? Is it economy? Is it stability? Is it law and order? Are Russians autocratic by nature? What does regime do to stay? How popular are regime policies? Rose, Richard, William Mishler, and Neil Munro Popular Support for an Undemocratic Regime: The Changing Views of Russians. Cambridge University Press. Treisman D Presidential Popularity in a Hybrid Regime: Russia under Yeltsin and Putin, American Journal of Political Science 55(3): Shleifer, Andrei A Normal Country: Russia after Communism. Harvard University Press. Taylor, Brian D State Building in Putin-S Russia: Policing and Coercion After Communism. Cambridge University Press. Ch. 8, pp Ambrosio, Thomas Authoritarian Backlash: Russian Resistance to Democratization in the Former Soviet Union. Ashgate Publishing. Ch. 4, pp Lynch, Allen C How Russia Is Not Ruled: Reflections on Russian Political Development. Cambridge University Press. Ch. 1, pp Chaisty P. and S. Whitefield The Effects of the Global Financial Crisis on Russian Political Attitudes. Post-Soviet Affairs 28(2): The following sources can be used to revise the class material presented during the lectures. Mandatory White, Stephen Understanding Russian Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press. White, Stephen, Richard Sakwa, and Henry E. Hale, eds Developments in Russian Politics 8. Duke University Press. Gel man, Vladimir Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes. University of Pittsburgh Press. Optional Wegren, Stephen K., ed Putin s Russia: Past Imperfect, Future Uncertain. 6th ed. Rowman & Littlefield. Kotkin, Stephen Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, Oxford University Press.

10 Lynch, Allen C How Russia Is Not Ruled: Reflections on Russian Political Development. Cambridge University Press. Ambrosio, Thomas Authoritarian Backlash: Russian Resistance to Democratization in the Former Soviet Union. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing. Rose, Richard, William Mishler, and Neil Munro Popular Support for an Undemocratic Regime: The Changing Views of Russians. Cambridge University Press. Ledeneva, Alena V Can Russia Modernise?: Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance. Cambridge University Press. Shleifer, Andrei A Normal Country: Russia after Communism. Harvard University Press. Fish, M Steven Democracy Derailed in Russia: The Failure of Open Politics. Cambridge University Press. Indicative Self- Study Strategies Type +/ Hours Reading for seminars / tutorials (lecture materials, mandatory and optional resources) + 55 Assignments for seminars / tutorials / labs + 30 E-learning / distance learning (MOOC / LMS) - - Fieldwork - 5 Project work + 10 Other (please specify) - - Preparation for the exam + 28 Academic Support for the Course Facilities, Equipment and Software Course Instructor Academic support for the course is provided via LMS, where students can find: guidelines and recommendations for doing the course; guidelines and recommendations for self-study; samples of assessment materials. Projector for the lectures, and a whiteboard for the seminars/dgs. Ivan S. Grigoriev: igrigoriev@hse.ru.