Chaired by Professors Timothy Colton, Jorge I. Domí­nguez, Grzegorz Ekiert, and Elizabeth J. Perry. From the 1970s to the 1990s, countries with communist political systems faced many similar challenges but responded in remarkably different ways. By the beginning of the 1990s, communist regimes survived only in Cuba and East Asia. Nearly all communist and postcommunist countries now confront issues of political legitimacy, economic growth and performance, and national and ethnic identities. The communist and postcommunist worlds pose stunning challenges in the redesign of the international system: China is an emerging superpower, North Korea is in a tense standoff with the United States over its nuclear program, and Russia is seeking a new international role. Harvard University has numerous faculty associated with various departments, research centers, and institutes, who work on nearly all of these countries and issues. This year, a faculty seminar on these topics will meet three or four times under the sponsorship of the Weatherhead Center and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian studies. Each session is deliberately comparative, seeking to address themes that cut across two countries.