The Post-Soviet Space in Global Politics
(MA course, 4 credits)
Winter semester
AY 2014/15
Class hours: Wednesday 17.20-19.00; Thursday, 9:00-10:40
Bernardo Teles Fazendeiro
The course examines the factors leading to and main features of post-Soviet politics. The first part of the module takes a brief historical approach in order to unpack the origins and functioning of the Soviet Union, such as how it was formed and eventually collapsed. It thus contextualizes and addresses some of the main characteristics of Soviet legacies in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Russia. The second part delves into post-soviet statehood. It somewhat brackets the historical focus with a view to understanding and conceptualizing regime types, nationalism, power networks, revolution, gender relations and media impact. The final part analyzes the international relations, persistent geopolitics and the complex foreign policy mosaic of the post-Soviet space.
Course structure
The course is structured in four sections: state formation and collapse; regimes types, formation and change; networks and clans; and foreign policy.
Assessment
30% 2*presentations
30% Role play (1-page background paper; participation in the simulation; 6-page reflection paper)
40% Research paper (3,500 words)
Aims
The course’s main aim is to provide students with a strong understanding of:
➢ The role of the Russian and Soviet legacies in shaping the trajectory and form of post-Soviet transformation;
➢ the inter-twined nature of the various dimensions of post-Soviet transformation (political, economic, cultural, social);
➢ the geo-strategic significance of the post-Soviet space and the interaction between actors internal and external to the region.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course students will:
✓ acquire a firm understanding of the key political and international developments in the post-Soviet space since 1991;
✓ critically engage with post-communist literature and its relevance for post-Soviet scholarship;
✓ apply their knowledge of comparative foreign policies to this region and demonstrate their appreciation of the domestic/foreign policy nexus.
Deadlines
Research paper: To be determined
Role play/simulation: To be determined
Reflection paper: To be determined
Introductory texts
Russia
R. Horvath (2012) Putin's Preventive Counter-Revolution: Post-Soviet Authoritarianism and the Spectre of Velvet Revolution (Routledge)
M. Laruelle (2009) In the Name of the Nation: Nationalism and Politics in Russia (Palgrave)
S. Oushakine (2009) The Patriotism of Despair: Nation, War, and Loss in Russia (Cornell UP)
D. Trenin (2010) Post-imperium. Russia and its neighbours (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
M.R. Freire and R.E. Kanet (eds) (2012) Russia and its near neighbors (Palgrave)
S. White, R. Sakwa and H. Hale (eds) (2009) Developments in Russian Politics 7 (Palgrave)
A. Tsygankov (2010) Russia’s Foreign Policy: Changes and Continuity in National Identity (Rowman and Littlefield)
M. McFaul (2005) Russia’s unfinished revolution (Cornell UP)
S. Wegren and D. Herspring (eds) (2009) After Putin’s Russia (Rowman and Littlefield)
R. Sakwa (2008) Russian Politics and Society (Routledge)
R. Sakwa (2008) Putin: Russia's Choice (Routledge)
Central Asia
S. Cummings (2012) Understanding Central Asia: Politics and Contested Transformation (Routledge)
S Cummings and R. Hinnebusch (eds) (2011) Sovereignty after Empire: Comparing the Middle East and Central Asia (Edinburgh UP)
O. Roy (2000) The New Central Asia: The Creation of Nations (I.B. Tauris)
G. Gleason (1997) The Central Asian states: discovering independence (Westview Press)
S. Cummings (2005) Kazakhstan: Power and the Elite (I.B. Tauris)
M. Olcott (2002) Kazakhstan: Unfulfilled Promise (Brookings)
N. Melvin (2000) Uzbekistan: Transition to Authoritarianism on the Silk Road (Harwood)
L. Adams (2010) The Spectacular State: Culture and National Identity in Uzbekistan (Duke UP)
A. Bohr (1998) Uzbekistan: Domestic and Regional Policy (RIIA)
M. Olcott (2012) Tajikistan: A Difficult Development Path (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
S. Akiner (2001) Tajikistan: Consolidation or Disintegration? (RIIA)
P. Bergne (2007) The Birth of Tajikistan. National Identity and the Birth of the Republic (I.B. Tauris)
J. Heathershaw(2009) Post-Conflict Tajikistan: the politics of peacebuilding and the emergence of legitimate order(Routledge)
A. Edgar (2004) Tribal Nation: The Making of Soviet Turkmenistan (Princeton UP)
S. Peyrouse (2011) Turkmenistan: Strategies of Power, Dilemmas of Development (ME Sharpe)
M. Reeves, J. Rasanayagam, J. and Beyer (eds) (2014) Ethnographies of the State in Central Asia: Performing Politics (Indiana UP)
Caucasus
C. King (2008) The Ghosts of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus (OUP)
C. Zürcher (2007) The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict, and Nationhood in the Caucasus (NY UP)
S.E. Cornell (2001) Small nations and great powers: a study of ethnopolitical conflict in the Caucasus (Routledge Curzon)
E. Herzig (1999) The New Caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia (Chatham House)
Ronald Grigor Suny (1996) Transcaucasia: Nationalism and Social Change. Essays in the History of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia (Michigan UP)
R.G. Suny (1988) The Making of the Georgian Nation (John Wiley)
R.G. Suny (1993) Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History (Indiana UP).
K. Oskanian (2013) Fear, Weakness and Power in the Post-Soviet South Caucasus: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis (Palgrave)
Baltics and Eastern Europe
P. M. Magosci (2010) History of Ukraine: The Land and its Peoples (Toronto UP)
S. Yekelchyk (2007) Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation (Oxford UP)
A. Wilson (2011) Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship (Yale UP)
T. Snyder (2003) The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999 (Yale UP)
G. J King and D. McNabb (2014) Nation-Building in the Baltic States: Transforming Governance, Social Welfare, and Security in Northern Europe (CRC Press)
R. Mole (2013) The Baltic States from the Soviet Union to the European Union: Identity, Discourse and Power in Post-Soviet Transition of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (Routledge).
V. Feklyunina and S. White (2014) Identities and Foreign Policies in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus (Palgrave)
V. Fritz (2008) State-Building: A Comparative Study of Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, and Russia (Central European UP)
T. Kuzio (2009) Democratic Revolution in Ukraine From Kuchmagate to Orange Revolution (Routledge)
I. Jeffries (2004) The Countries of the Former Soviet Union at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century The Baltic and European States in Transition (Routledge)
W. Hill (2012) Russia, the Near Abroad, and the West: Lessons from the Moldova-Transdniestria Conflict (John Hopkins UP)
C. King (2000) The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the Politics of Culture (Hoover)
O. Schmidtke and S. Yekelchyk (2008) Europe’s Last Frontier?: Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine between Russia and the European Union (Palgrave)
Relevant journals
Communist and post-Communist Studies; Problems of Post-Communism; Demokratizatsiya; Europe-Asia Studies; International Affairs; Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics; Journal of Democracy; Post-Soviet Affairs; Central Asian Survey.
E-learning
The course makes use of e-learning, a web-based learning programme (http://e-learning.
ceu.hu). Log in with your university ID and password and register for the course (located under ‘International Relations and European Studies’). You will be given the enrolment key during the first class. Lecture slides will be uploaded there, as well as key additional readings. You are, however, strongly encouraged to do your own library searches,either among the hard copies of books and journals available in the CEU library or among the electronic resources.
Calendar
Session / Week / Title1 / 1 / Introduction: From the Tsarist Empire to the Soviet Union
2 / 1 / Soviet rule: Empire?
3 / 2 / The Soviet collapse
4 / 2 / State formation and state collapse: The South Caucasus
5 / 3 / State formation and collapse: The North Caucasus and the Russo-Chechen Wars
6 / 3 / State formation and state collapse: Central Asia
7 / 4 / From disintegration to re-integration: Russia’s asymmetric ethnofederalism
8 / 4 / Russian Patriotism and Nationalism
9 / 5 / Hybrid regimes and competitive authoritarianism
10 / 5 / Networks: Clans and clan politics
11 / 6 / Siloviki, business, oligarchs and organized crime
12 / 6 / Revolutions?
13 / 7 / Gender Politics
14 / 7 / Media and the Internet
15 / 8 / Role play: Introduction
16 / 9 / A New Great Game?
17 / 10 / Geopolitics and Regionalism
18 / 10 / Varieties of Foreign Policy: Identity and Culture?
19 / 11 / Politics of Energy: The Quest for hydrocarbons
20 / 11 / Debate: Ukraine Crisis
21 / 12 / Simulation
22 / 12 / Simulation and debriefing
1 Introduction: From the Tsarist Empire to the Soviet Union
Core reading
D. Lieven (2002) Empire: The Russian Empire and its Rivals (Yale UP), Chap. 6 and 9
Additional reading
A. Ulam (1998) The Bolsheviks: The Intellectual and Political History of the Triumph of Communism in Russia (Harvard UP)
C. Read (1996) From Tsar to Soviets: the Russian People and their Revolution (Oxford University Press): 11-28
C. King (2000) Post-postcommunism: Transition, Comparison, and the End of 'Eastern Europe. World Politics 53 (1): 143-172
D. Lieven (2002) Empire, Chap. 7 and 8
R. Sakwa (1998) Soviet Politics in Perspective (Routledge): 1-29
I. STATES
2 Soviet rule: Empire?
Core reading
F. Hirsch (2000) Towards an Empire of Nations: Border-Making and the Formation of Soviet' National Identities. Russian Review 59 (2): 201-26
T. Martin (2001) An Affirmative Action Empire The Soviet Union as the Highest Form of Imperialism. In: T. Martin and R.G. Suny (eds) A State of Nations: Empire and Nation-Building in the Age of Lenin and Stalin (Oxford UP)
Additional reading
R. Sawka (1998) Soviet Politics in Perspective (Routledge): 1-29
F. Hirsch (1997) The Soviet Union as a Work-in-Progress; Ethnographers and the Category Nationality in the 1926, 1937, and 1939 Censuses. Slavic Review 56 (2): 251-78
A. Khalid (2007) Locating the (Post-)colonial in Soviet History. Central Asian Survey 26(4): 465-473
T. Martin and R.G. Suny (2001) A State of Nations: Empire and Nation-Building in the Age of Lenin and Stalin (Oxford UP)
Y. Slezkine (1994) The USSR as a Communal Apartment: How a Socialist State Promoted Ethnic Particularism. Slavic Review, 53(2): 414-452
P. Kneen (1998) Reconceptualizing the Soviet System: Pluralism, Totalitarianism and Science. Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 14 (4): 28-50
3 The Soviet collapse
Core reading
H. Hale (2000) Parade of Sovereignties; Testing theories of secession in the Soviet setting. British Journal of Political Science 30: 31-56
M. Suyarkulova (2011) Reluctant Sovereigns? Central Asian States’ Path to Independence. In: S. Cummings and R. Hinnebusch (eds) (2011) Sovereignty After Empire: Comparing the Middle East and Central Asia (Edinburgh UP)
Additional reading
D. Marples (2004) The Collapse of the Soviet Union 1985-1991 (Pearson): 101-110
R. Suny (1993) The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution and the Collapse of the Soviet Union (Stanford UP), Chap. 4
R. Karklins (1994) Explaining regime change in the Soviet Union. Europe-Asia Studies 46 (1)
R. Sakwa (1993) A cleansing storm: the August coup and the triumph of perestroika. Journal of Communist Studies 9 (4): 131-149
R. Horvath (2005) The Legacy of Soviet Dissent: Dissidents, Democratisation and Radical Nationalism in Russia (Routledge)
R. Karklins (1994) Explaining regime change in the Soviet Union. Europe-Asia Studies 46 (1)
A. Dallin (1992) Causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Post-Soviet Affairs 9 (4): 279-302
4 State formation and state collapse: The South Caucasus
Core reading
S. Cornell (2002) Autonomy as a Source of Conflict: Caucasian Conflicts in Theoretical Perspective. World Politics 54 (2): 245-276
N. Caspersen (2008) Separatism and Democracy in the Caucasus. Survival 50(4): 113-136
Additional reading
C. King (2001) The Benefits of Ethnic War: Understanding Eurasia's Unrecognized States. World Politics 53: 524-552
C. Zürcher (2007) The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict, and Nationhood in the Caucasus (NYU Press), Chap. 5-6
D. Lynch (2002) Separatist States and post-Soviet Conflicts. International Affairs 78 (4): 831-848
R. Ware (1998) Conflict in the Caucasus: An historical context and a prospect for peace. Central Asian Survey 17 (2)
Z. Baran (2001) The Caucasus: Ten Years after Independence. Washington Quarterly 25(1)
N. Trapsh (2007) The North Caucasus and the Multilevel International Subsystem. Problems of Postcommunism 54 (2): 38 – 48
H. Hale (2005) Regime Cycles. Democracy, Autocracy, and Revolution in post-Soviet Eurasia. World Politics 58: 133-165
H. Hale (2006) Democracy or autocracy on the march? The colored revolutions as normal dynamics of patronal presidentialism. Communist and Post-Communist Studies 39: 305- 329
L. Zourabian (2006) The Nagorno-Karabakh Settlement Revisited: Is Peace Achievable? Demokratizatsiya 14 (2): 252-265
M. Malek (2006 State Failure in the South Caucasus: Proposals for an Analytical Framework. Transition Studies Review 13 (2)
S. Van Evera (1994) Hypotheses on Nationalism and War. International Security 18 (4): 5-39
R. Dannreuther and L. March (2008) Chechnya: Has Moscow Won? Survival 50 (4)
C. King and R. Menon (2010) Prisoners of the Caucasus: Russia's Invisible Civil War. Foreign Affairs July/August
D. Laitin and R. Suny (1999) Armenia and Azerbaijan: Thinking a Way Out of Karabakh. Middle East Policy 7 (1)
5 State formation and collapse: The North Caucasus and the Russo-Chechen Wars
Core reading
D. Sagramoso (2007) Violence and conflict in the Russian North Caucasus. International Affairs 83 (4): 681-705
S. Akkieva (2008) The Caucasus: One or Many? A View from the Region. Nationalities Papers 36 (2): 253-273
Additional reading
C. Zürcher (2007) The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict, and Nationhood in the Caucasus (NYU Press), Chap. 4
J. Russell (2007) Chechnya: Russia's 'war on terror' or 'war of terror'? Europe-Asia Studies 59 (1): 163–168
R. Sakwa (2004) Putin: Russia’s Choice (Routledge), Chap. 8
E. Souleimanov and O. Ditrych (2008) The Internationalisation of the Russian-Chechen Conflict: Myths and Reality. Europe-Asia Studies 60 (7)
R. Danreuther and L. March (eds) Russia and Islam: State, society and radicalism (Routledge)
A. Matveeva (2007) Chechnya: Dynamics of War and Peace. Problems of postcommunism 54(3): 3 – 17
J. Hughes (2007) The Chechnya Conflict: Freedom Fighters or Terrorists? Demokratizatsiya 15 (3): 293-311
D. Lynch (2005) The Enemy is at the Gate’: Russia after Beslan. International Affairs 81 (1): 141-161
G. Hahn (2008) The Jihadi Insurgency and the Russian Counterinsurgency in the North Caucasus. Post-Soviet Affairs 24 (1)
J. Wilhelmsen (2005) Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Islamisation of the Chechen Separatist Movement. Europe-Asia Studies 57 (1): 35-60
A. Lieven (2000) Nightmare in the Caucasus. Washington Quarterly 23 (1): 145-15