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Dissolving the USSR, Building a New Russia, 1985-2005

A. Main Themes

1. Soviet crisis of the 1980s

2. Disestablishing the USSR

3. From perestroika to katastroika

4. Yeltsin era: political collapse, corruption, social crisis

5. Putin era: rebuilding the state and economy

B. Perestroika to Collapse

1. Key dynamics2. Gorbachev: “New Thinking”3. Perestroika: uskorenie, glasnost’,

demokratizatsiia4. Crisis of USSR, 1989-91

a. Politicalb. Nationalityc. Economic stasis

5. Dissolving the USSR6. Why did the USSR collapse?

Satire: Kosygin and Brezhnev

Raisa and Mikhail Gorbachev

Gorbachev: Anti-Alcohol Campaign

August 1991: Mass Demonstration against the Putsch

C. Yeltsin Era

1. Dismantling the state

2. Shock therapy and post-Soviet depression

3. Cultural emancipation

4. Social polarization

5. Foreign policy: ally and disenchantment

Yeltsin: 1996 Presidential Campaign

C. Putin: Rebuilding and Reforming

1. Putin profile

2. An agenda for reform and rebuilding

3. Economic recovery

4. Social question

5. Terror: Chechnia

6. Foreign policy: reasserting Russian interests

GDP Growth Rate (Percent)

Russia: Capital Investment Flows 1993-2003

FDI: East Europe and Russian Share, 1994-2001

Average Monthly Pension1998-2005 (rubles)

“Putin: Pensioners are not dogs”

St. Petersburg: Demonstration demanding Putin’s resignation

Social Inequalities

“Bums: don’t sit here”

Decile Ratio (2001)

Unemployment Rate 1990-2004

Beslan Tragedy (Sept 2004)

Moscow 1999 Terrorist Bombing

Beslan: Explosive Hung from Basketball Backboard

Beslan: Digging Graves for Victims

Tycoons on Trial: Khodorkovsky and Lebedev

1993: Storming the “White House”

Boris Berezovskii

Anatolii Chubais

Putin: Black Belt

Putin: Copilot on Trip to Groznyi (2000)