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UCL Credits: 15 | Total Learning Hours: 150 | ECTS: 7.5 |
Level: Intermediate | Course Unit: 0.5 | Term 2 |
Module Coordinator: Dr Andrew Wilson Taught By: Dr Andrew Wilson To find out more about this module, please contact the Module Coordinator |
| Weekly Contact Hours: 2.0 (1 hour lecture and 1 hour tutorial per week) |
| Prerequisites: Understanding Politics: How Politics Works OR Understanding Politics: The Big Questions OR equivalent |
| Compulsory Module for: It is one of four courses from which two core courses must be chosen for Politics and East European Studies (PEES), Politics and East European Studies with A Year Abroad (PEESYA) |
Summative Assessment
Coursework Essay 2000 words (25%)
2 Hour Examination (75%)
Formative Assessment
Participation in classes and submission of reflections sheets.
Module Outline
The aim of this course is to examine the social, political, economic development of the fifteen post-Soviet states since 1991. It will examine why reform has been so much more difficult than in CEE, discuss whether ‘post-Soviet’ is still a valid concept and whether common patterns (corruption, oligarchs, informal politics, political technology) can still be found in the various successor states. The prospects for developing relations with the EU will be examined, as against Russia’s continuing influence in the post-Soviet space.
Indicative Texts
- Thomas Ambrosio, Authoritarian Backlash: Russian Resistance to Democratization in the Former Soviet Union , (Ashgate, 2008)
- Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way, Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War , (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010).
- Dmitri Trenin, Post-Imperium: Russia and its Neighbors , (Carnegie, 2010)
- Rachel Vanderhill and Michael Aleprete (eds.), International Dimensions of Authoritarian Persistence: Lessons from Post-Soviet States , (Lanham: Lexington, 2013).
AFFILIATES |
Affiliates | Course Code | Assessment | ECTS |
| Full Year Affiliates | Register for SESS2108 | As Above | 7.5 |
| Affiliates here for Terms 2 and 3 only | Register for SESS2108 | As Above | 7.5 |
Please note: This outline is accurate at the time of publication. Minor amendments may be made prior to the start of the academic year.