Emphasis on improved listening comprehension and speaking ability. Emphasis on improved listening comprehension and speaking ability. The role of human-environmental interaction in these regions is also examined. The evolution of Communist theory and practice from the writings of Marx and Engels to application in Russia, eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, as well as in pluralistic political systems, such as those of western Europe. The decline of Communism in Europe and the USSR and its transformation in east Asia and Cuba.
Considerable attention is given to Russia's current attempt to define for itself a new world role.
The primary focus of the course is on politics, society, and foreign policies in the new Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzgekistan, though some attention will also be given to the Turkic regions of western China as well as Iran and Afghanistan. Among the topics to be examined are Islamic revivalism, ethnic conflict, national security, the attempts to construct modern national identities as well as modern political and economic systems. An examination of the domestic politics of the USSR and its successor states. The central concern of the course is the perennial dominance of authoritarianism over democracy in Russian political culture and behavior. Through a study of relations between ethnic groups, political institutions, citizen and the state, and the center and provinces, the course illustrates the tortuous path toward political change in Russia and the neighboring lands of Eurasia.