You will design and implement a research project that explores one specific business model or practice that seems especially significant in contemporary Russia. You should consider the abstract and theoretical aspects of your topic, its practical manifestations, and its place in the broader spectrum of contemporary Russian life and culture. Your paper must be 10-15 pages (remember that the page count begins with the first line of your text, not your heading).
Your topics and research may overlap with your case history project material, but this is not mandatory.
You must draw on at least two works from the course syllabus (not including the articles posted for case history presentations) and at least two other works that you find by researching your topic.
There are two main concerns to bear in mind with this assignment:
1) Your task is to offer your own informed analysis of the model or practice you discuss. Papers that are primarily names, dates, and facts will not be acceptable.
2) You should work to synthesize much of what we’ve discussed over the semester. Try to offer an analysis that incorporates the deeper background of your topic (potentially even the areas you explored in your first paper). Situate your discussion of a contemporary facet of business in Russia in the broader context of Russian culture stretching back at least to the 1990s if not the late Soviet period as well.
