This course addresses relationships between Russia and the United States in contemporary and historical perspective. Timed to coincide with the 2020 American presidential electoral campaigns, the course will address topics such as: the social, political, and economic conditions that led to Vladimir Putin’s rise; Soviet “active measures,” counterintelligence, and contemporary information warfare; global Russia and changes in the international system; and approaches to state legitimacy. The course also will ask what Americans and Russians could learn from one another, examining struggles the peoples of the United States and Russia have in common, from legacies of unfree labor and atomic culture to protecting public lands. Weekly lectures will feature distinguished guest speakers from outside the university. [This ULEC is in category 1, Tools for Social Change.]