Tentative. Subject to Change.

 

Mafia and Corruption in Russia

Summer Session 2008  Week “Zero”

PS 399. Instructor: Myagkov Mikhail

Class Time: muwhf
6/16-6/20; 282LIL  0900-1650

Office Hours (week zero) M-F 815-845am

General Description

It seems like most of the news coming from Russia lately have been full of keywords such as "Mafia", "Corruption", "Money Laundering", "Election Fraud" and them alike. Most western observers agree that corruption is the single most important obstacle that undermines Russian reforms. Is the situation really that bad? Does the Russian mob control everything in the country, including nuclear weapons? Have recent elections been stolen by corrupt politicians close to the ruling elite? Answers to such questions are not as simple as they might look at first sight. To understand what is happening in Russian economy and politics and why it looks so profoundly corrupt it is necessary to study organization, institutions and power structure of the Russian society. That, combined with understanding of how Russian economy works would shed some light on the Mafia’s role within Russian society. This class will focus on Mafia and Corruption as integral parts of Russia’s transition to democracy. We will consider a lot of fascinating examples of criminal and Mafia related activities in Russia. We will watch parts of a movie that is Russian equivalent of the “Godfather”.  We will also look at theoretical aspects of how corruption can undermine democracy.

Requirements:

  1. Class attendance and  in-class quizzes 

 The quizzes will be in the form of multiple choice type questions covering in-class lectures and discussions

Above described requirements AND

  1. Two short (3-4 pages) essays and/or news reviews. This can be a book review from those books listed below and/or an additional essay on student’s own topic of interest related to the main subject of the class. The information for the additional essay can be found on the web or from other sources. The combined length of the review/essay is recommended is 5-7 pages Due  July 28th, noon at my office.

All students are expected to attend classes, read the required materials and follow news reports which concern Russia's current state of affairs. A special attention should be paid to the reports, which concern Mafia and corruption.

NOTE: There will be no final nor midterm exams in this class.  Grades will be posted by August 15th. Requests for earlier grade submission will be considered.

Incompletes: All the work (papers) should be complete by the due date (July 28th). An incomplete grade may be given  in some cases if there is evidence of some kind of emergency (medical/family) that prevented a student from completing the work on time. It is instructor’s discretion whether or not to grant such a request. If the request is granted then the student has to sign an agreement regarding the date of work completion or a failing grade can be given. 

 

 

Organization:  The class will be organized as a combination of lectures on the evolution and structure of Mafia in Russia and open in-class discussions. Below are examples of subjects to be discussed in the lectures :

1.        Origins of contemporary corruption in Russia. Organization and structure of the pre-1985 Soviet Union. Socialist Mafia.

2.        Role of Mafia in early political reforms in the former Soviet Union.

3.        Formation organization and internal structure of organized criminal groups in Russia, and their relations with the governments of all levels

4.        Criminal economy of market reforms: How to Steal a Billion Rubles.

5.        War in Chechnya as someone’s moneymaking enterprise: who did that and why?

6.        Role of police, prosecutors and judges in Russia’s corrupt legal system.

7.        Election fraud in Russia’s elections.

Examples of  discussion topics are as follows:

·         Is corruption in Russia a result of its communist past?

·         Is Russia’s  President Vladimir Putin going to fight corruption?

·         Are Gorbachev or/and Yeltsin to blame for the Mafia propagation in Russia?

·         Is Election Fraud a real problem in Russian politics?

·         Is there a link between Russian organized crime and international terrorism?

·         Why are Russian people so tolerant to the widespread corruption?

·         Is war in Chechnya on Mafia’s agenda too?

·         Is corruption bad for Russian economy?

Readings:

“Godfather of the Kremlin” by Paul Khlebnikov  ( required )

"Comrade Criminal" by Stephen Handelman (recommended)

 Set of Articles on Russian corruption can be accessed at: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~myagkov/PS399Readings.html (for  reading purposes only)

 “Violent Entrepreneurs" by Vadim Volkov

"Bear Hunting with Politburo" by Craig Copetas

WWW Sites to follow:

   www.russianjournal.com;   http://english.pravda.ru/   http://www.moscowtimes.ru

http://www.prima-news.ru/eng/   http://www.world-newspapers.com/russia.html