This course will focus on the politics of the Russian Federation in the post-Soviet period. After a brief review of the decline and fall of the USSR, it will concentrate on Russian political development under the presidencies of Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, especially on the power politics of elections, parties, struggles between center and periphery, the increasing dominance of the executive branch and the decline of competitive politics. In mapping the emergence of Russia's political terrain, it will address some of the forces that have contributed to shaping it, including the results of economic transition, and the interplay of domestic politics and Russia's changing geo-political status, including the Chechen wars and Russia's interests in other former Soviet republics such as Georgia and Ukraine.