putindebate

=The Putin Panel Discussion=

Vladimir Putin has clearly left his mark on Russian politics. During his eight years as president and two as prime minister, he has instituted changes which have affected Russia economically and politically and reshaped Russia's role in the world. What has been the impact of those changes? That's what we're going to debate in class. Political scientists question whether or not Russia--a country with virtually no experience with democracy or a free market--is moving in the direction of a liberal democracy or if the new regime is just a smoke and mirrors imitation of the historic authoritarianism that has characterized Russia for centuries. Still others argue that Russia is settling in as an illiberal democracy with the trappings of democracy--direct elections and other democratic structures like political parties--but without a political culture that supports democratic principles such as civil liberties and rights, rule of law, and independence of the judiciary. We are going to plunge into the middle of that discussion and vigorously argue about whether or not Vladimir Putin has had a positive or negative impact on Russia.
 * Introduction**


 * Your Task**


 * In teams, you will research Vladimir Putin's impact on the Russia economy, Russian politics, and Russia's role in the world.
 * You will use several databases that McGehee has subscribed to to complete your research (see below)
 * You will organize your research on your team's wiki page. The wiki page should be organized by topic and provide a summary of your main arguments.
 * You will define a persona for yourself: you are a Russia expert.


 * Some additional resource****s**
 * [| Foreign Policy, "Rethink before Resend" (May 2009] )