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Geopolitics, Eurasian Studies and Security

The programme aims to offer a fresh perspective on Eurasia by facilitating discussion on new opportunities and challenges from increased connectivity in the region. It will address politics, history, security, economics, development, social issues, and the environment relating to state and non-state actors. Courses cover Russian and Eurasian history, geopolitics and security, post-Communist economies, and post-Communist societies through examining relevant literature and topics each week.

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Amer Dardağan

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)

78 views5 pages

Geopolitics, Eurasian Studies and Security

Uploaded by

Amer Dardağan

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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Geopolitics, Eurasian Studies and Security

Programme Description:

Its aim is to offer a fresh view of Eurasia by facilitating a vigorous discussion on the new
opportunities and challenges that Eurasian inter-connectivity brings to state and non-state actors.
Programme will address domestic and international politics, history, security, economic and
developmental issues, migration, social and intellectual exchanges, as well as environmental
concerns and technology sharing.

Courses:

1.Russian and Eurasian History

2.Eurasian Geopolitics and Security

3.Post-Communist Economies

4.Post-Communist Societies

5.BHS Language

1. Russian and Eurasian History

Week 1: Introduction

Week 2: Tsarist and Soviet system

Week 3: Mass terror under Stalin in Eurasia (Causes and consequences)

Week 4: Soviet economic system and foreign relations (1930-1980s.)

Week 5: The collapse of the USSR

Week 6: Russian Federation since 1991

Week 7: Post-Soviet states in Europe and Central Asia

Week 8: Final Exam

Literature:

Nicholas Riasanovsky, A History of Russia, 5th edition (1992), chs. 30-39, 40-42.

Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism (2009), chs. 1,6, 9-10, 20, 24-30

Robert Kaiser, The Geography of Nationalism in Russia and the USSR (1994), chs. 1, 3, 5-8.

Philip Hanson, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Economy: An Economic History of the USSR
from 1945 (2003), chs. 2-5, 7, 9.

Serhii. Plokhy, The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union (2014), Introduction,
Epilogue.

Michael McFaul, Russia’s Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin
(2001), chs. 4-10.

Lucan Way, “Authoritarian State Building and the Sources of Regime Competitiveness in the
Fourth Wave: The Cases of Belarus, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine,” World Politics (2005):
231-61

2. Eurasian Geopolitics and Security

Week 1: Introduction

Week 2: Russian politics since 1991

Week 3: Democratization in Eurasia

Week 4: Political change and economic reform in Eurasia

Week 5: Security issues in the post-Soviet countries

Week 6: A 21st Century Geopolitical Strategy and Policymaking for Eurasia

Week 7: Russia-U.S. relations and perspectives

Week 8: Final Exam

Literature:

Alexandros Petersen, "The World Island: Eurasian Geopolitics and the Fate of the West"
(Praeger Security International) 1st Edition, 2011

Archie Brown, ed., Contemporary Russian Politics: A Reader (2001), Sections 1-5, 9,11-12.

David Hoffman, The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia (2002), chs. 8,16.

Amy Knight, Spies Without Cloaks: The KGB’s Successors (1996), Introduction, chs.2-4, 6-7,
9,10.

Valerie Bunce, Michael A. McFaul, and Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, eds., Democracy and
Authoritarianism in the Post-Communist World (2009), chs. 1-2,7-10, 12.

R. Horvath, “Putin's 'Preventive Counter-Revolution': Post-Soviet Authoritarianism

and the Spectre of Velvet Revolution,” Europe-Asia Studies 63 (2011): 1-25.

Karen Dawisha, Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? (2014), chs. 6-7.

3. Post-Communist Economies

Week 1: Introduction

Week 2: Economic reform in the Baltic States, Ukraine, and Russia

Week 3: Russian privatization

Week 4: Western economic policies in the post-Soviet states

Week 5: 1998 and 2008 economic crisis in Russia

Week 6: “State capitalism” under Putin

Week 7: Implications for economic reform in Eurasia

Week 8: Final Exam

Literature:

Anders Aslund, Russia’s Capitalist Revolution: Why Market Reform Succeeded and
Democracy Failed (2007), chs. 3-8.

Joel Hellman, “Winners Take All: The Politics of Partial Reform in Postcommunist
Transitions,” World Politics 50 (January 1998), 203-34.

J. Zweynert, “Conflicting Patterns of Thought in the Russian Debate on Transition:

2003-2007,” Europe-Asia Studies 62, no. 4 (2010), 547-569.

Anders Åslund, Sergei M. Guriev, and Andrew Kuchins, eds., Russia after the Global
Economic Crisis (2010), chs. by Guriev/Tsyvinski, Crane/Usanov, and Åslund.

Thane Gustafson, Wheel of Fortune: The Battle for Oil and Power in Russia (2012),
Introduction, ch. 13.

Neil Robinson, “Introduction: the political problems of Russian capitalism” and “The
contexts of Russia's political economy: Soviet legacies and post-Soviet policies,” in
Robinson, ed., The Political Economy of Russia (2013).

4. Post-Communist Societies

Week 1: Introduction

Week 2: Civil society before and after communism

Week 3: Legacies of communism in the post-Soviet societies

Week 4: Educational trends in the post-Soviet states

Week 5: Post-communist revival of religion

Week 6: Development of NGOs in the post-Soviet states

Week 7: Domestic and interstate migration in the post-communist era

Week 8: Final Exam

Literatura:

S. Frederick Starr, “Soviet Union: A Civil Society,” Foreign Policy, Spring 1988, 2641.

Michael McFaul and Elina Treyger, “Civil Society,” in McFaul et al., eds., Between Dictatorship
and Democracy: Russian Post-Communist Political Reform (2004), 13573.

Igor Torbakov, “The Russian Orthodox Church and Contestations over History in
Contemporary Russia,” Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization 22, no. 1
(Jan 2014): 145-70.

Graeme Robertson, “Managing Society: Protest, Civil Society, and Regime in Putin's Russia,”
Slavic Review 68, No. 3 (Fall 2009), 528-47.

Thomas F. Remington, “The Russian Middle Class as Policy Objective,” Post-Soviet Affairs 27,
no. 2 (2011), 97-120