The Post-Soviet Russian Extreme Right (Eichstaett, Oct. 09 - Febr. 10)

Kursbeschreibung / -kommentar

In this seminar (Übung), we will deal with ultra-nationalism and other forms of right-wing extremism in post-Soviet Russia.
This biweekly course starts with a brief introduction to generic extremely right-wing ideas, and then provides a survey of the major ideologies, parties and leaders of ultra-nationalism in contemporary Russia. We will deal with, among others, Vladimir Zhirinovskii's so-called Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia, Aleksandr Barkashov's Russian National Unity, Dmitrii Vasiliev's Pamiat' (Memory) group, the growing Skinhead movement as well as with Aleksandr Dugin's International Eurasian Movement. The course focuses on the differences in the conceptualization of the Russian nation and national interests by, as well as on the distinct political strategies of, various actors within the post-Soviet right-radical spectrum. The course will be conducted in English although some of the assigned non-obligatory literature may be in German or Russian.
For this seminar, you should have, at least, intermediate English language listening comprehension and speaking proficiency, as well as advanced reading proficiency in English and intermediate reading proficiency in either German or Russian. While the seminar will be conducted and most of the reading assignments be in English, some of the relevant literature is in German. The reading load will be high.
Though this is a seminar of the history department, the course may be also suitable for students of political science, sociology, European studies, journalism, geography, ethnology, philology, and international relations.
If possible, you should temporarily become a member of the following yahoo group where you will find numerous resources on Russian nationalism: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/russian_nationalism/ Membership is free and you can always leave this group, without assistance. Please configure the group settings as you wish.