Russian History A 2023/2024

Russian History A

For the following degree programs: Beni Culturali (archeologici, artistici, musicali e dello spettacolo), Lettere in modalità Erasmus

Teacher: Prof. Andrea Romano

a.a. 2023-2024

CFU 6

Class schedule: Classes will be held in 1 semester starting November 13 and ending December 20, 2023

Monday h.11-13 classroom t28

Tuesday h.11-13 classroom t29

Wednesday h.11-13 classroom t29

Course mode: mixed didactics

Program

From Stalin to Putin. Russia between XX and XXI centuries

The module will address the main phases of Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet history from World War I to the present, focusing in particular on the transformations of political and state power, their interaction with society, the international dynamics involving Russia and the Soviet Union, and the representations of ideology and political culture that have been produced and that have underpinned the different political regimes. 

Particular attention will be paid to the following themes: the crisis of the Russian Empire during World War I; 1917 and the consolidation of Soviet power; the Stalin regime from the 1930s to World War II; the post-war period and the transition from late Stalinism to post-Stalinism; the years of de-Stalinization; the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s; the 1980s and the crisis of the Soviet regime; the transition from the Soviet Union to the Russian Federation and the political and national dynamics of the former Soviet space in the early 1990s; Putin and the different stages of Putinism; Russia today: regime ideology, the "Russian world," Putinian representations of Russian statehood and the international community.

Teaching methods: lectures; hands-on involvement of students through classroom reading and analysis of historical documents and passages from historiography.

Methods and criteria for testing learning outcomes: students will be required to take an oral test that will focus on the main topics covered in the lectures and textbooks. Final evaluation will be based on knowledge shown and expository skills.

Bibliography

Two texts are to be studied for the exam.

For all:

Carolina De Stefano, “Storia del potere in Russia. Dagli zar a Putin”, Brescia, Scholé, 2022

plus one text of choice from the following:

Andrea Graziosi, “L'Ucraina e Putin tra storia e ideologia”, Bari, Laterza, 2023

Andrea Romano, “Lo Stalinismo”, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2002 (if not available in bookstore or ecommerce ask the teacher)

Andrea Borelli, “Nella Russia di Putin. La costruzione di un’identità post-sovietica”, Roma, Carocci, 2023