Course Description

Course Name

Communism

Session: VGSS3122

Hours & Credits

20 Scotcat Credits

Prerequisites & Language Level

Taught In English

  • There is no language prerequisite for courses at this language level.

Overview

The aim of this course is to consider the theory and practice that have informed communist rule from its outset (in Soviet Russia in 1917) to the present day, giving due attention to the global nature of communist rule and to its place within the politics of the left more broadly.
At one time about a third of the world?s population lived under communist rule. It persists today in the world?s most populous country, China, and elsewhere in Asia and Latin America. It has been one of the most influential political philosophies we have ever seen, and its history is studied more actively than ever before on the basis of the archives and other sources that have recently become available. The aim of this course is to consider the theory and practice that have informed communist rule from its outset (in Soviet Russia in 1917) to the present day, giving due attention to the global nature of communist rule and to its place within the politics of the left more broadly.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. analyse the ideas that have informed communist rule, including the critiques that were mounted at various times by social democrats and critical Marxists;

2. critically assess the operation of a ?mature? communist political system, such as the USSR in the 1970s and 1980s;

3. explain the historical record of communist rule; and

4. elucidate the reasons that led to the demise of communist rule in Eastern Europe and the USSR at the end of the 1980s.

Assessment

Summative assessment will be based entirely on a three hour, unseen written examination.

*Course content subject to change