POL1922

This course explores the shift from Cold War to Hot War in Europe, specifically in communist and former communist Eastern Europe, Ukraine, and Russia. First, the course studies the history of communism’s spread from the USSR to Eastern Europe after WWII. Then it covers major events of the Cold War in Europe, such as the Berlin Wall, the Hungarian uprising, and the Prague Spring. Students learn about the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the return to the West and democratization. Finally, the course explores in-depth NATO expansion, rising tension between the West and Russia, and the Russian war for Ukraine that has seen hundreds of thousands of casualties and has lasted for over three years. The war’s implications for Ukraine, Europe, and the international order are enormous.

This course is taught by Kathleen Collins, a Professor in the Department of Political Science and a faculty affiliate in Islamic Studies. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University in Political Science with a focus on Russia and Muslim Eurasia. Professor Collins is the author of Clan Politics and Regime Transition in Central Asia (Cambridge University Press), which won the Central Eurasian Studies Society Award for the Best Book in the Social Sciences on Central Eurasia, 2008. Her second book is Politicizing Islam in Central Asia: From the Russian Revolution to the Afghan and Syrian Jihads (Oxford University Press, 2023).

001475

Periodic Fall