CIEE, St. Petersburg

This directed independent research course is for qualified students who have demonstrated academic rigor and curiosity towards a particular research topic. Independent research topics are approved by the CIEE Academic Coordinator and the home institution advisor, and must reflect a topic that is relevant to the location of studies. To be accepted into this course, students submit a structured proposal with topic of exploration, significance of research topic as it relates to the local culture, methodology, a literature review, and a schedule of research milestones. Upon research completion, students present their findings to a panel of academics.

The course provides an in-depth examination of the history of Russia from 1917 to present day. Major topics include the Russian revolutions of 1917; the Soviet system under Bolsheviks and Stalin; the mass terror of the 1920s-1930s and during late Stalinism in the 1950s; the Great Patriotic War, the Thaw, the Cold War, the Perestroika, and the collapse of the USSR; the emergence of the post-Soviet republics; and the socio-economic developments in contemporary Russia. Special attention is given to continuities and discontinuities between Russia's imperial past and the Soviet period in Russian history, as well as the country's post-Soviet present.

This course offers an introduction to the evolution of political life in contemporary Russia. This course reviews Russian politics both through the eyes of Russian political scholars and Western scholarship. Students examine Russian politics in relation to cultural values and lifestyle, i.e., through the normative lens of average Russian citizens. The course analyzes current political issues in order to understand contemporary Russia and explore an outlook of future developments. The course discusses topics including the democratization process, electoral and party systems, political decision-making, foreign affairs, and the role of mass media and public opinion. Course meetings consist of lectures; class discussions; presentations by politicians, political consultants, and political scientists; and excursions.

This course analyzes key themes in Russian history, from the emergence of the Kievan Rus' in the ninth century to the Revolution of 1917. The course provides a survey of economic, political, social, religious, and intellectual history of the country during this period. The primary emphasis is given to political, social, and cultural changes and transformations. The course discusses the emergence of Kievan and Novgorodian states, and the rise of the Muscovite autocratic state and its transformation into the Russian Empire beginning with Peter the Great. The course explores themes including the introduction of Christianity, the Mongolian invasion, the emergence of Muscovy under Ivan III and the institutionalization of autocracy under Ivan the Terrible, the great church schism of the seventeenth century, the westernization of Russia under Peter I, the Enlightenment and the despotism of Catherine the Great, the Russian increased intrusion into European politics in the nineteenth century, the era of the great reforms of the 1860s, and the end of Russian Empire in 1917. The major political problems of the Russian state are analyzed based on the corpus of first and secondary texts, as well as on visual materials, such as films, photos and posters.