AP/POLS 3500 3.00

The Rise and Fall of Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe

The Communist challenge to capitalism was one of the major twentieth-century forces which have shaped the contemporary world. This course examines key political developments in Russia and Eastern Europe from the Russian Revolution of 1917 to the overthrow of communist regimes in 1989-1991. Among the issues discussed are: the establishment of communist regimes; the evolution of state socialist systems; social change, repression and reform; the pressures of competition with the collapse of communism; the legacy of the communist experience in the new century.