Walker, Clint B.

English

University of Montana

University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025 Spring 2-1-2022 RUSS 391.01: Russia and the West - From Peter the Great to Putin Clint B. Walker University of Montana - Missoula, clint.walker@umontana.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/syllabi2021-2025 Let us know how access to this document benefits you. Recommended Citation Walker, Clint B., "RUSS 391.01: Russia and the West - From Peter the Great to Putin" (2022). University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025. 846. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/syllabi2021-2025/846 This Syllabus is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact scholarworks@mso.umt.edu. Professor Clint Walker RUSS 391, T Th  2-3:20pm, LA 338 Office: LA 330, x2501 clint.walker@mso.umt.edu              Russia and the West: From Peter the Great to Putin  The final years of the Cold War appeared to usher in an era of cooperation and joint ventures between Russia and the USA and major Western European powers. Many in the West seemed optimistic about Russia’s ability to develop democratic and market-based institutions to facilitate Russia’s eventual integration into the so-called family of Western European nation states. Few share such optimism today. Russia’s relations with the United States and the West broadly conceived are among the most tense and confrontational in recent history. Many prominent Western commentators on Russia even go so far as to characterize the current period as a New Cold War. This course will attempt to place present-day relations between Russia and the West in a broader historical, cultural and political perspective.  REQUIRED TEXTS:       Available from your instructor:   Martin Malia, Russia Under Western Eyes      The Marquis de Custine, Empire of the Czar      Chronicle of the Russian Tsars      Readings in Russian Civilization, Vol II (Imperial Russia)      The Three Whys of the Russian Revolution      Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Gambler      Oliver Stone, The Putin Interviews      Anastasia Edel, Putin’s Playground  DVD MATERIALS (for general background): Russia: Land of the Tsars          GRADING:  25%   Attendance and General Class Participation  10% Presentation (15 min presentation – may be individual or with a classmate)  20% 3-4 page Response Paper on either: Custine, Empire of the Czar OR Dostoevsky, The Gambler  20% 3-4 page Film Review: Dr. Strangelove in a Historical and Cultural Context  25% Final Exam (Take-home essay response paper to Paul Sanders’ essay  “Under Western Eyes. How Meta-Narrative Shapes Our Perception of Russia – and Why It is Time for a Qualitative Shift” (2013).   GRADING SCALE  A   = 93-100  B-  = 80-82  D+ = 68-69 A- = 90-92  C+ = 78-79  D   = 64-67 B+ = 88-89  C   =  77-73  F    = 63 and below B   = 83-87  C-  =  70-72  PAPER GUIDELINES: All written work for this class should be typed or done on a computer. Use a standard 12 point font and double-space. Proofread each assignment for typos, poor wording, mechanics, etc. Late work will be penalized one letter grade per class day. Plagiarism will not be tolerated in any form. Please ask if you have a question about what constitutes plagiarism, but on the whole, if you consult another work for ideas, copy or paraphrase from another source, etc., then you need to acknowledge the source (including the work you consulted, the publication information, and the page number/s) in your paper with a footnote.  PRESENTATIONS: Each of you needs to sign up for a presentation on one of the topics listed on the syllabus. I will pass around a sign-up sheet, and you should sign up for a slot that will work with your individual schedule. Some are presentations on a book that you will have to read on your own outside of class. You do not have to read the entire book, but at least enough so that you can do a solid presentation on what the book is about. Pretend that your classmates do not know anything about the book at all and it will make the task easier. Your presentations can be done individually or with a classmate, but you need to choose relatively early in the semester so that we can plan. I recommend you use Powerpoint or prepare slides and/or visual aids, but you are not required to do so. Each in-class presentation should last a minimum of ten minutes and a maximum of twenty minutes, and each presenter should take an active part (but it is fine if one member speaks a bit more—just try to share the responsibility for the work and spread things out evenly). Respect your classmates (and yourself!) and relate to these presentations seriously and maturely. If people take these presentations seriously, the class will be much more beneficial and enlightening for all of us (and naturally you will get better grades, too)!    SYLLABUS  January   Tues, 18  Course Overview and Distribution of Materials     Group Discussion: What is “the West”? How would you define it?  What about Europe? What is Europe? Do you consider Russia part of “the West”? Part of Europe? During which period/s of history?     Excerpts from Russia: Land of the Tsars      Homework: Watch Volume 1 of Russia: Land of the Tsars up to the beginning of its discussion of the reign of Peter the Great   Thurs, 20  Background: Russia prior to Peter the Great (part one)     Excerpts from Russia: Land of the Tsars and discussion      Homework: 1) Watch the section of Vol 1 of Russia: Land of the  Tsars covering the reign of Peter the Great 2) Read the overview of Peter the Great’s reign in Chronicle of the Russian Tsars  Tues, 25  Peter the Great as a Transformer of Russia  Homework: 1) Watch the Biography Channel special on  Peter the Great on Vol. 2 of Russia: Land of the Tsars                 2) Read “Russia Under Peter the Great” in  Readings in Russian Civilization   Thurs, 27  Peter the Great and the West (overview of image and legacy)     Homework: Read the overview on Catherine the Great  in Chronicle of the Russian Tsars and “Catherine the Great’s ‘Instructions’” in Readings in Russian Civilization February  Tues, 1   Catherine the Great       Homework: Read Malia, chapter 1 of Russia Under  Western Eyes (p. 15-84)   Thurs, 3  Discussion: Malia, chap 1, Russia Under Western Eyes (p. 15-84)      “Russia as Enlightened Despotism, 1700-1815”     Possible Presentation Topic: Catherine, Russia &  The French Revolution (1789)      Homework: Read the overview on Alexander I  in Chronicle of the Russian Tsars   Tues, 8   Alexander I (overview in Chronicle of the Russian Tsars)     Possible Presentation Topic: The Decembrist Revolt   Homework: Read the overview on Nicholas I in Chronicle of the Russian Tsars and “The Decembrists: Extracts from Documents” and “Apology of a Madman: Excerpts” by Peter Chaadaev in Readings in Russian Civilization    Thurs, 10  The Reign of Nicholas I      Homework: Read Malia, chap 2 of Russia Under Western Eyes  (p. 85-159)   Tues, 15  Discussion of “Russia as Oriental Despotism, 1815-1855” Discussion of Chaadaev’s Philosphical Letters/Apology of a Madman and the beginning of the Westernizer/Slavophile Schism Possible Presentation: Westernizers in 19th Century Russia   Thurs, 17  The Slavophile/Westernizer Schism in Russian Cultural History  Possible Presentation:  Slavophiles in 19th Century Russia  Homework: Read from Custine, Empire of the Czar and be ready  to discuss in particular chapters V-XI, pages 47-172)    Tues, 22  Custine, Empire of the Czar      For Discussion: What images of Russia does Custine present?  What image/s of the West can you read into the way that he  re-presents Russia in his book? What might be some  reasons for strong bias that would affect his presentation of  Russia to his reading audience?      Homework: Continue reading from Custine, Empire of the Czar    Thurs, 24  Custine, Empire of the Czar (general discussion)      Pick at least two quotes/short sections that you think  are key to Custine’s image of Russia in the book and  be ready to present them to the class.      Homework: Read Dostoevsky, The Gambler  March  Tues, 1   Dostoevsky, The Gambler  General discussion, but with particular focus on images  of Europe versus images of Russia in the novel   Thurs, 3  Dostoevsky, The Gambler (continued) Liberals, Radicals, Political Terrorism Possible Presentation: the Assassination of Alexander II  and Political Terrorism      Homework: Response Paper One  (see description of assignment below)   Tues, 8   The Russian Revolution (background lecture) Response Paper One Due Today (3-4 pages) on either: 1) the image of Russia in Custine’s Empire of the Czar; or 2) images of Russia and/or Europe in Dostoevsky’s The Gambler  Homework: Pipes, The Three “Whys” of the Russian Revolution   Thurs, 10  Discussion: The Russian Revolution in the eyes of Pipes      Homework: Malia, Russia Under Western Eyes (p. 357-407)      “Tails, The Empire: 1945-1991”   Tues, 15  Discussion of Post WW II USSR: Stalin, Khrushchev, Cold War     Possible Presentation: Cuban Missile Crisis   Thurs, 17  Discussion: Post WW II USSR: Stalin, Khrushchev, Cold War Possible Presentation: Early Years of the Space Race       Homework over break: Watch the film Dr. Strangelove !!   Tues, 22  SPRING BREAK  Thurs, 24  SPRING BREAK    Tues, 29  Discussion of Dr. Strangelove       Homework: Response Paper Two  (see below for assignment details)  Thurs, 31  Response Paper Two Due   Write a Film Review  (3-4 pages) on the topic “Dr Strangelove in the Context of the Cold War”      Class Discussion: Dr Strangelove, Nuclear Weapons, the Cold War April   Tues, 5   Gorbachev and the West     Thurs, 7  Yeltsin and the West     Possible Presentation: “Shock Therapy” & Economic Reform    Tues, 12  Putin: Biography, First Term, 9/11 (lecture/video material)   Thurs, 14  The Putin Era Possible Book Presentation: Petrostate (Goldman):  Russia and Oil      Homework: Start reading The Putin Interviews   Tues, 19  Discussion of The Putin Interviews       Homework: Continue Reading The Putin Interviews   Thurs, 21  Discussion of The Putin Interviews Possible Book Presentation: The Crimean Nexus (Pleshakov):   Crimea then and now      Homework: Read Putin’s Playground (as much as you can)   Tues, 26  Putin Era: Discussion of Topics Covered in Putin’s Playground Possible Book Presentation: Invention of Russia (Ostrovsky):  Media/News and the Image of Russia  Homework: Continue reading Putin’s Playground    Thurs, 28   Putin Era: Discussion of Topics Covered in Putin’s Playground   May  Tues, 3   Putin Era: Discussion of Putin’s Russia up to the present day  Thurs, 5  Course Wrap Up           Your take-home final exam response (5-7 pages) to Paul Sanders’ essay “Under Western Eyes. How Meta-Narrative Shapes Our Perception of Russia – and Why It is Time for a Qualitative Shift” (2013) will be due on the Wed of finals period (May 11) by 5pm. You may print it off and slide it under my office door in LA 330 or simply send it to me as an attached file.            .  

RUSS 391.01: Russia and the West - From Peter the Great to Putin

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RUSS 391.01: Russia and the West - From Peter the Great to Putin

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