Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Professor
David Christian
Contact via email
Australian Hearing Hub, level 2, Rm. 618, Phone 9850-8769
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Credit points |
Credit points
3
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
39cp at 100 level or above or (6cp in MHIS or HIST or POL at 200 level including 3cp in MHIS units)
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
This unit explores the evolution of Russia from the early modern period, through the Soviet period and up to today. After a period of decline since the breakdown of the Soviet Union, Russia is once again becoming a powerful and assertive nation, and it retains a large nuclear arsenal. How did Russia first become a great power? Why was the Tsarist system overthrown and replaced by an entirely new governmental system after 1917? How did the Soviet Union re-build its power and establish itself as a modern superpower/ Why did the Soviet Union breakdown? And how powerful and influential is Russia today? In an increasingly multi-polar world, these questions are becoming particularly important.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
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ESSAY 1 | 15% | Yes | Week 6, Wed Apr 4 |
DRAFT OF MAJOR ESSAY | 10% | No | Week 9, Wed May 9 |
ESSAY 2 | 20% | Yes | Week 10, Wed May 16 |
MAJOR ESSAY | 40% | Yes | Week 12, Wed May 30 |
ACTIVE TUTORIAL PARTICIPATION | 15% | No | Entire Semester |
Due: Week 6, Wed Apr 4
Weighting: 15%
This is a hurdle assessment task (see assessment policy for more information on hurdle assessment tasks)
On any of the tutorial questions from weeks 1-6 inclusive
Due: Week 9, Wed May 9
Weighting: 10%
A 2 page outline and plan for major essay (describing main themes of each paragraph) + Bibliography
Due: Week 10, Wed May 16
Weighting: 20%
This is a hurdle assessment task (see assessment policy for more information on hurdle assessment tasks)
On any of the tutorial questions from weeks 7-13 inclusive
Due: Week 12, Wed May 30
Weighting: 40%
This is a hurdle assessment task (see assessment policy for more information on hurdle assessment tasks)
On a larger, more conceptual problem to be developed in the course of the semester
Due: Entire Semester
Weighting: 15%
Based on attendance and contributions to seminar discussions and peer review; grades will be awarded at half-semester and at the end of the semester
iLearn site: More information about this unit is available on the iLearn site, which you can find at: http://ilearn.mq.edu.au.
Classes: We will meet on Wednesdays from 3 pm to 6 pm in E6A (9 Wally's Walk) 131. Normally, I will begin by asking students (picked randomly) to offer their answers to the week's main questions. Then there will be a lecture, followed by in-class work, group discussions and discussion of assessment tasks.
Recommended Texts: There is no required textbook for this unit, and you will be encouraged to do much of your own bibliographical research. But I strongly recommend that you buy and use either the book by Figes, or the two books by Weeks and Lovell. Copies should be available in the Coop Bookstore.
Wk 1: Wed, Feb 28: Organizational: and the idea of "Inner Eurasia". QUESTIONS: "What is meant by "Inner Eurasia" and how can the idea help us better understand Russian and Soviet history?"
Wk 2: Wed, Mar 7: Modernity: The Russian Empire meets the Fossil Fuels Revolution. QUESTIONS: "What is meant by the "Fossil Fuels Revolution", and why did it destabilize traditional states such as the Russian Empire?"
Wk 3: Wed, Mar 14: Challenges for an ancient Empire: Economic, social and political reforms in the late 19th century. QUESTIONS: "How did the Russian government respond to the challenge of the fossil fuels revolution, and what were the main social and economic changes in Russia by 1905?"
Wk 4: Wed, Mar 21: New Ideologies and the 1905 Revolution. QUESTIONS: "What were the main ideologies competing for support in Russia in 1905, and to what extent do they represent responses to the challenges of modernization and the fossil fuels revolution?"
Wk 5: Wed, Mar 28: The Russian Empire in Revolution and War: Problems and Possibilities. QUESTIONS: "What sort of political and economic system emerged from Russia after the 1905 Revolution, and do you see any parallels with Russia today?"
Wk 6: Wed, Apr 4: Breakdown and Revolution: Socialism, Leninism and Utopian hopes for the future. ESSAY 1 DUE. QUESTIONS: "How do you explain the breakdown after the February Revolution and the successful Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917?"
Wk 7: Wed, Apr 11: Holding on to power: Civil War and the building of a new mobilizational system. QUESTIONS: "Why did the Bolsheviks win the civil war, and to what extent did the methods they used borrow from the Tsarist past and prefigure the Soviet future?"
[RECESS: APR 16-27]
Wk 8: Wed, May 2: A Turning Point in World History: the 1920s, NEP, and the turn to a Command Economy. QUESTIONS: "What were the major challenges facing the Soviet government in the 1920s, and why, eventually, did they opt for Stalin's solutions to those challenges?"
Wk 9: Wed, May 9: Industrialization and the Cauldron of War: A Triumph for the Stalinist System? DRAFT OF MAJOR ESSAY DUE. QUESTIONS: "What were the main achievements of Stalinism in the 1930s and 1940s, and what were its major failures?"
Wk 10: Wed, May 16: Post-Stalin reforms and Social and Economic change: A resurgent Communist world? ESSAY 2 DUE. QUESTIONS: "To what extent was the Stalinist system dismantled after Stalin's death, and what were the main changes in Soviet society in the 1950s and 1960s?"
Wk 11: Wed, May 23: Stagnation, Perestroika and Collapse. QUESTIONS: "Why did the Soviet government embark on radical changes after 1985, and why did the attempt at reform fail?"
Wk 12: Wed, May 30: The 1990s: The End of an Experiment. MAJOR ESSAY DUE. QUESTIONS: "Was Russian society democratic or capitalist in the 1990s?"
Wk 13: Wed, June 6: Russia today: Russian or Capitalist? QUESTIONS: "What do regard as the main achievements of post-Soviet Russia and the major challenges it faces in the future?"
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Date | Description |
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21/02/2018 | Minor changes to room and information about ilearn site |
19/02/2018 | Room change |