Crime and corruption are significant social and political issues across the post-Soviet region. The course will highlight the historical legacies left by the Soviet Union in framing crime and corruption in the present day. The course focuses on Russia, but we will discuss other countries in the region throughout. Questions the course addresses include: why did many forms of crime increase rapidly after the Soviet Union collapsed? Why did mafias emerge and how do we define them? What role do violence-wielders such as organized criminals, private security firms and the police play in producing (in)security for citizens of post-Soviet countries? How has corruption affected state-society relations in the post-Soviet context? How effective have anti-corruption drives been? How and to where do post-Soviet organized criminal and corrupt practices travel?

*Course content subject to change