Russia as a Global Power

Catalog description

This course will examine Russia’s rise and role as a global power in the 20th and 21st centuries. After suffering a devastating defeat in World War I, Russia, as the Soviet Union, remade its economic, cultural, and military power to be central to the defeat of the Axis states and then challenged the U.S. throughout the Cold War. The breakup of the Soviet Union set Russia’s position back again, but since 2007, Putin has been increasingly assertive around the world. Combining the disciplines of History and Political Science, students will study the ebb and flow of Russian power using the tools of both disciplines. By examining secondary and primary sources, as well as theories of empire, war, state formation, and authoritarianism, students will achieve a strong understanding of Soviet and Russian foreign policy and the conceptual tools for better understanding post-Soviet Russia in the global arena.