Using This List: This Resource List identifies all required materials for the course in the order presented.  Where possible, full-text documents are linked. Documents accessed via the library may require a database password to view. Some materials may not be available outside of the course and are marked as such.

Lesson 1: History – The Struggle for Order in Russia

Fitzpatrick, Shelia. The Russian Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. [Note: Not available outside of course]

“Soviet Leaders in 7 Minutes (History).” YouTube video, 7:27. “Austin Olney,” 19 April 2016.

MacKenzie, David and Michael W. Curran. A History of Russia and the Soviet Union. Chicago, IL: The Dorsey Press, 1987. [Note: Not available outside of course]

Brown, Trevor. “The American and Soviet Cold War Space Programs,” Comparative Strategy 30, no, 2 (9 May 2011): 177-185.

Aron, Leon. “Everything You Think You Know About the Collapse of the Soviet Union is Wrong.” Foreign Policy 187 (July/August 2011): 64-70.

Aslund, Anders. “Revisiting the End of the Soviet Union.” Problems of Post-Communism 58, no. 4–5 (July-October 2011): 46-55.

Barnes, Andrew. “Three in One: Unpacking the ‘Collapse’ of the Soviet Union.” Problems of Post-Communism 61, no. 5 (September/October 2014): 3-13.

Lesson 2: People, Societies, and States

White, Stephen, John Gardner, George Schöplin, and Tony Saich. Communist and Postcommunist Political Systems: An Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990. [Note: Not available outside of course]

Huskey, Eugene. “Nomenklatura Lite? The Cadres Reserve in Russian Public Administration.” Problems of Post-Communism 51, no.2 (March/April 2004): 30-39.

“Tightening the Screws: Clampdown on Russia's Civil Society.” YouTube video, 6:46. “Human Rights Watch,” 24 April 2013,

Evans, Alfred B. “The Failure of Democratization in Russia: A Comparative Perspective.” Journal of Eurasian Studies 2 (2011): 40-51.

Ljubownikow, Sergej, Jo Crotty, and Peter W. Rogers. “The State and Civil Society in Post-Soviet Russia: The Development of a Russian-Style Civil Society.” Progress in Development Studies 13, no. 2 (April 2013): 153-166.

Shinar, Chaim. “Is a Consolidation of Liberal Democracy in the Russia Federation a Reality?” European Review 22, no. 2 (May 2014): 321-334.

McFaul, Michael. “The Fourth Wave of Democracy and Dictatorship: Noncooperative Transitions in the Postcommunist World.” World Politics 54, no. 2 (January 2002): 212-244.

Stoner, Kathryn and Michael McFaul. “Who Lost Russia (This Time?) Vladimir Putin.” The Washington Quarterly 38, no. 2 (30 July 2015): 167-187.

Hale, Henry. “Eurasian Polities as Hybrid Regimes: The Case of Putin's Russia.” Journal of Eurasian Studies 1, no. 1 (January 2010): 33-41.

Lesson 3: Challenges

Pavlovsky, Gleb. “Russian Politics Under Putin.” Foreign Affairs 95, no. 3 (May/June 2016): 10–17.

Lipman, Maria. “How Putin Silences Dissent.” Foreign Affairs 95, no. 3 (May/June 2016): 38–46.

Trenin, Dmitri. “The Revival of the Russian Military.” Foreign Affairs 95, no. 3 (May/June 2016): 23–29.

Guriev, Sergei. “Russia's Constrained Economy.” Foreign Affairs 95, no. 3 (May/June 2016): 18–22.

Treisman, Daniel. “Why Putin Took Crimea.” Foreign Affairs 95, no. 3 (May/June 2016): 47–54.

Mankoff, Jeffrey. “Russia's Latest Land Grab.” Foreign Affairs 93, no. 3 (May 2014): 60–68.

Berzins, Janis. “Russia's New Generation Warfare in Ukraine: Implications for Latvian Defense Policy.” Military Operations 2, no. 4 (Fall 2014): 4–7.

Stang, Gerald. “The Bear and the Beaver: Russia and European Energy Security.” European Union Institute for Security Studies, July 2015.

Praks, Henrik. “Hybrid or Not: Deterring and Defeating Russia’s Ways of Warfare in the Baltics-the Case of Estonia.” Research Paper no. 124. Rome: NATO Defense College Research Division, December 2015.

Bronk, Justin. “NATO Baltic Air Policing—Revenge of the Cold War Relic.” RUSI (website), 4 June 2014.

Fitton, Oliver. “Cyber Operations and Gray Zones: Challenges for NATO.” Connections: The Quarterly Journal 15, no. 2 (Spring 2016): 109–119.

Matveeva, Anna. “Russia’s Changing Security Role in Central Asia.” European Security 22, no.4 (2013): 478–499.

Blank, Stephen. “Making Sense of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 14, no. 2 (Summer 2013): 39–49.

Kotkin, Stephen. “Russia's Perpetual Geopolitics.” Foreign Affairs 95, no. 3 (May/June 2016): 2–9.

Lukyanov, Fyodor. “Putin's Foreign Policy: The Quest to Restore Russia’s Rightful Place.” Foreign Affairs 95, no. 3 (May/June 2016): 30–37.

Stent, Angela. “US-Russia Relations in the Second Obama Administration.” Survival 54, no. 6 (December 2012-January 2013): 123–138.

Galeotti, Mark. “Russia's New National Security Strategy: Familiar Themes, Gaudy Rhetoric.” War on the Rocks (website), 4 January 2016.

Olga Oliker. “Unpacking Russia's New National Security Strategy.” Center for Strategic and International Studies (website), 7 January 2016.

Kureev, Artem. “Russia's New National Security Strategy has Implications for the West.” Russia Direct (website), 8 January 2016.

Putin, Vladimir. “On the Russian Federation’s National Security Strategy.” Russian Federation Presidential Edict 683. Translation. 31 December 2015.