Russian Foreign Policy – Postgraduate Course Syllabus

Course Description

The comeback of Russia, as a major global player, has been witnessed by the international community in recent years. Is this a truly novel event, or is it the result of President Vladimir Putin’s shift in foreign policy and the opportunism of the Kremlin? How did Russian foreign policy change from the Tsar era to the 2022 conflict in Ukraine? What domestic and international issues affect it? Not simple questions, but the structure and content of the course help students to answer them. In addition, it provides a thorough introduction with many interesting topics that will catch the students’ attention.

Students will examine, compare, and debate the merits of key concepts of Russia’s foreign policy. In each lecture, we contextualise these concepts and demonstrate how they contribute to a better understanding of Russia’s role in international order. 

Applying the Aristotelian method of teaching, I will focus on developing both the intellectual and moral virtues of students. Intellectual virtues are character traits such as the ability to judge the truth and comprehend the nature of things, whereas moral virtues are habits of living that involve the whole person and include justice, temperance, prudence, and fortitude, which are characterised by desire and emotion.

In addition, the course is designed with the following implications in mind: to understand the diverse backgrounds of undergraduate students, to provide full support to non-native speakers in relation to academic English, and to engage the students in practical discussions and seminars. An inclusive curriculum implements policies and resources to ensure that all students are supported in their learning.

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

• Analyse and apply diverse theoretical approaches to Russian foreign policy.
• Examine critically the reasons for cooperation and diplomacy.
• Engage in contemporary theoretical discussions of the foreign policy of Russia.
• Construct and defend theoretically sophisticated arguments regarding Russian foreign policy.
• Learn to think and write critically about crucial Russian foreign policy concepts.
• Effective communication in professional applications of Russian foreign policy studies.
• Develop innovative ways of thinking about the practical implications of Russian foreign policy (Cold War, Gorbachev, Putin, the European Union and NATO, Ukraine 2022). 

Reading Materials

Foundation texts

1. Sergunin, A.A. (2016) Explaining Russian foreign policy behavior: theory and practice. Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag (Soviet and post-soviet politics and society, vol. 147).
2. Tsygankov, A.P. (ed.) (2018) Routledge handbook of Russian foreign policy. London; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Supportive texts

• DIESEN, G. (2019) Russia’s geoeconomic strategy for a greater eurasia. New York; Oxon: ROUTLEDGE.
• Fawn, R. and White, S. (eds) (2002) Russia after communism. London; Portland, Or: F. Cass.
• Ivanov, I.S. (2002) The new Russian diplomacy. Washington, D.C: Nixon Center: Brookings Institution Press.
• Mankoff, J. (2022) Empires of Eurasia: how imperial legacies shape international security. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Neumann, I.B. (2017) Russia and the idea of Europe: a study in identity and international relations. 2nd edition. London; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group (The new international relations series).
• Sakwa, R. (2017) Russia Against the Rest: The Post-Cold War Crisis of World Order. 1st edn. Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316675885.
• Tsygankov, A.P. (2022) Russia’s foreign policy: continuity and change in national identity. Sixth edition. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

Direct foreign policy discourse sources

• President of Russia
• Security Council of Russia
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
• Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation
• Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation
• Committee on International Affairs of the State Duma

Additionally, recommended readings based on scholarly articles are provided for each lecture to introduce students to academic analytical and critical thinking.

The quality of teaching, course content, and literature included reflects the advanced practice of worldwide recognised departments of politics and international relations.

Course Content

Lecture 1: Conceptualisation of IR Theories I.

Core Required Reading

Sergunin, A.A. (2016) Explaining Russian foreign policy behavior: theory and practice. Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag (Soviet and post-soviet politics and society, vol. 147).

• Power transition theory
• Status theory(ies)

Recommended Reading

• Baver, S.L. (2006) ‘“Peace Is More Than the End of Bombing”: The Second Stage of the Vieques Struggle’, Latin American Perspectives, 33(1), pp. 102–115. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X05283520.
• Bird, C. (2004) ‘Status, Identity, and Respect’, Political Theory, 32(2), pp. 207–232. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591703256686.
• Bussmann, M. and Oneal, J.R. (2007) ‘Do Hegemons Distribute Private Goods?: A Test of Power-Transition Theory’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 51(1), pp. 88–111. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022002706296178.
• Chan, S., Hu, W. and He, K. (2019) ‘Discerning states’ revisionist and status-quo orientations: Comparing China and the US’, European Journal of International Relations, 25(2), pp. 613–640. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066118804622.
• Cooley, A., Nexon, D. and Ward, S. (2019) ‘Revising order or challenging the balance of military power? An alternative typology of revisionist and status-quo states’, Review of International Studies, 45(04), pp. 689–708. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210519000019.
• de Soysa, I., Oneal, J.R. and Park, Y.-H. (1997) ‘Testing Power-Transition Theory Using Alternative Measures of National Capabilities’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 41(4), pp. 509–528. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022002797041004002.
• Duffy Toft, M. (2007) ‘Population Shifts and Civil War: A Test of Power Transition Theory’, International Interactions, 33(3), pp. 243–269. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03050620701449025.
• Efird, B., Kugler, J. and Genna, G. (2003) ‘From War to Integration: Generalizing Power Transition Theory’, International Interactions, 29(4), pp. 293–313. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/714950654.
• Freedman, J. (2016) ‘Status insecurity and temporality in world politics’, European Journal of International Relations, 22(4), pp. 797–822. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066115603781.
• Geller, D.S. (1992) ‘Power Transition and Conflict Initiation’, Conflict Management and Peace Science, 12(1), pp. 1–16. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/073889429201200101.
• Götz, E. (2021) ‘Status Matters in World Politics’, International Studies Review, 23(1), pp. 228–247. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viaa046.
• He, K. and Chan, S. (2018) ‘Thinking about Change: American Theorizing and Chinese Reasoning on World Politics’, International Studies Review, 20(2), pp. 326–333. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viy028.
• Honig, O. (2008) ‘Surprise Attacks—Are They Inevitable? Moving Beyond the Orthodox–Revisionist Dichotomy’, Security Studies, 17(1), pp. 72–106. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09636410801894167.
• Kim, W. (1992) ‘Power Transitions and Great Power War from Westphalia to Waterloo’, World Politics, 45(1), pp. 153–172. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2010522.
• Kim, W. and Gates, S. (2015) ‘Power transition theory and the rise of China’, International Area Studies Review, 18(3), pp. 219–226. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/2233865915598545.
• Kirton, J. and Larionova, M. (2022) ‘Contagious convergent cumulative cooperation: the dynamic development of the G20, BRICS and SCO’, International Politics [Preprint]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-022-00407-7.
• Larson, D.W. (2018) ‘New Perspectives on Rising Powers and Global Governance: Status and Clubs’, International Studies Review, 20(2), pp. 247–254. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viy039.
• Lebow, R.N. and Valentino, B. (2009) ‘Lost in Transition: A Critical Analysis of Power Transition Theory’, International Relations, 23(3), pp. 389–410. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117809340481.
• Lee, S.-H. (2015) ‘Global and regional orders in the 21st century in terms of multi-layered power transition theory: The cases of US–China and China–Japan relations’, International Area Studies Review, 18(3), pp. 266–279. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/2233865915600397.
• Lemke, D. (1997) ‘The Continuation of History: Power Transition Theory and the End of the Cold War’, Journal of Peace Research, 34(1), pp. 23–36. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343397034001003.
• Lemke, D. and Reed, W. (1996) ‘Regime types and status quo evaluations: Power transition theory and the democratic peace’, International Interactions, 22(2), pp. 143–164. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03050629608434886.
• McDonald, P.J. (2015) ‘Great Powers, Hierarchy, and Endogenous Regimes: Rethinking the Domestic Causes of Peace’, International Organization, 69(3), pp. 557–588. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818315000120.
• Miller, J.L. et al. (2015) ‘Norms, Behavioral Compliance, and Status Attribution in International Politics’, International Interactions, 41(5), pp. 779–804. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03050629.2015.1037709.
• Molloy, S. (2022) ‘Hierarchy and status: a response’, International Politics [Preprint]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-022-00412-w.
• Parlar Dal, E. (2019) ‘Status competition and rising powers in global governance: an introduction’, Contemporary Politics, 25(5), pp. 499–511. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13569775.2019.1627767.
• Rauch, C. (2017) ‘A tale of two power transitions: Capabilities, satisfaction, and the will to power in the relations between the United Kingdom, the United States, and Imperial Germany’, International Area Studies Review, 20(3), pp. 201–222. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/2233865916689510.
• Rauch, C. (2017) ‘Challenging the Power Consensus: GDP, CINC, and Power Transition Theory’, Security Studies, 26(4), pp. 642–664. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09636412.2017.1336389.
• Renshon, J. (2016) ‘Status Deficits and War’, International Organization, 70(3), pp. 513–550. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818316000163.
• Schweitzer, D.R. (1977) ‘STATUS POLITICS AND CONSERVATIVE IDEOLOGY: A FRENCH-SWISS CASE IN NATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE’, European Journal of Political Research, 5(4), pp. 381–405. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.1977.tb00796.x.
• Smith, H. (2014) ‘Russia as a great power: Status inconsistency and the two Chechen wars’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 47(3–4), pp. 355–363. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2014.09.005.
• Sobek, D. and Wells, J. (2013) ‘Dangerous Liaisons: Dyadic Power Transitions and the Risk of Militarized Disputes and Wars’, Canadian Journal of Political Science, 46(1), pp. 69–92. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423913000218.
• Solovyev, E.G. (2004) ‘Geopolitics in Russia—science or vocation?’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 37(1), pp. 85–96. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2003.12.009.
• Volgy, T.J. and Gordell, K.M. (2019) ‘Rising powers, status competition, and global governance: a closer look at three contested concepts for analyzing status dynamics in international politics’, Contemporary Politics, 25(5), pp. 512–531. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13569775.2019.1621719.
• Westphal, M. (2022) ‘Against the status quo: the social as a resource of critique in realist political theory’, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, pp. 1–19. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2022.2120660.
• Wohlforth, W.C. et al. (2018) ‘Moral authority and status in International Relations: Good states and the social dimension of status seeking’, Review of International Studies, 44(3), pp. 526–546. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210517000560.
• Wolf, R. (2019) ‘Taking interaction seriously: Asymmetrical roles and the behavioral foundations of status’, European Journal of International Relations, 25(4), pp. 1186–1211. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066119837338.

Lecture 2: Conceptualisation of IR Theories II.

Core Required Reading

Sergunin, A.A. (2016) Explaining Russian foreign policy behavior: theory and practice. Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag (Soviet and post-soviet politics and society, vol. 147).

• Peaceful coexistence concept
• Soft power concept

Recommended Reading

• Aaron, R.I. and Reynolds, P.A. (1956) ‘Peaceful Coexistence and Peaceful Co-Operation’, Political Studies, 4(3), pp. 283–296. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.1956.tb00846.x.
• Aggeeva, I. (2018) ‘Peaceful Coexistence and Problems of Scientific, Technical and Economic Cooperation between the Soviet Union and Canada’, ISTORIYA, 9(7). Available at: https://doi.org/10.18254/S0002416-6-1.
• Bakalov, I. (2019) ‘Whither soft power? Divisions, milestones, and prospects of a research programme in the making’, Journal of Political Power, 12(1), pp. 129–151. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/2158379X.2019.1573613.
• Benvenuti, A. (2020) ‘Constructing Peaceful Coexistence: Nehru’s Approach to Regional Security and India’s Rapprochement with Communist China in the Mid-1950s’, Diplomacy & Statecraft, 31(1), pp. 91–117. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09592296.2020.1721063.
• Cheskin, A. (2017) ‘Russian soft power in Ukraine: A structural perspective’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 50(4), pp. 277–287. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2017.09.001.
• Feklyunina, V. (2016) ‘Soft power and identity: Russia, Ukraine and the “Russian world(s)”’, European Journal of International Relations, 22(4), pp. 773–796. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066115601200.
• Fisher, H.H. (1960) ‘WLADYSLAW W. KULSKI. Peaceful Co existence: An Analysis of Soviet Foreign Policy. Pp. xxi, 662. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company in co-operation with the Foundation for Foreign Affairs, 1959. $12.50’, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 330(1), pp. 171–172. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/000271626033000149.
• Fleming, M. (2016) ‘Patryk Babiracki, Soviet Soft Power in Poland: Culture and the Making of Stalin’s New Empire, 1943–1957’, European History Quarterly, 46(4), pp. 707–708. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0265691416658234.
• Golova, T. (2020) ‘Post-Soviet migrants in Germany, transnational public spheres and Russian soft power’, Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 17(3), pp. 249–267. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2020.1742265.
• Götz, E. (2016) ‘Neorealism and Russia’s Ukraine policy, 1991-present’, Contemporary Politics, 22(3), pp. 301–323. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13569775.2016.1201312.
• Hazard, J.N. (1976) ‘Otnosheniia mirnogo sosushchestvovaniia i mezhdunarodnoe pravo (The Relationships of Peaceful Coexistence and International Law). By I. I. Lukashuk. Kiev: Izdatel’stvo Ob”edinenie Vishcha Shkola; Izdatel’stvo pri Kievskom Gosudarstvennom Universitete, 1974. Pp. 207. 90 kopeks.’, American Journal of International Law, 70(1), pp. 163–165. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2200584.
• Jackson, N.J. (2010) ‘The role of external factors in advancing non-liberal democratic forms of political rule: a case study of Russia’s influence on Central Asian regimes’, Contemporary Politics, 16(1), pp. 101–118. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13569771003593920.
• Keating, V.C. and Kaczmarska, K. (2019) ‘Conservative soft power: liberal soft power bias and the “hidden” attraction of Russia’, Journal of International Relations and Development, 22(1), pp. 1–27. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-017-0100-6.
• Khrushchev, N.S. (1959) ‘On Peaceful Coexistence’, Foreign Affairs, 38(1), p. 1. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/20029395.
• Kiseleva, Y. (2015) ‘Russia’s Soft Power Discourse: Identity, Status and the Attraction of Power’, Politics, 35(3–4), pp. 316–329. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9256.12100.
• Kubálková, V. and Cruickshank, A.A. (2008) ‘The Soviet Concept of Peaceful Coexistence: Some Theoretical and Semantic Problems’, Australian Journal of Politics & History, 24(2), pp. 184–198. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8497.1978.tb00252.x.
• Kucherenko, O. (2021) ‘A Fleeting Friendship: Anglo-Soviet Penpalship in the Second World War’, Diplomacy & Statecraft, 32(4), pp. 692–719. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09592296.2021.1996713.
• Larson, D.W. and Shevchenko, A. (2003) ‘Shortcut to Greatness: The New Thinking and the Revolution in Soviet Foreign Policy’, International Organization, 57(1), pp. 77–109. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818303571028.
• Lebedeva, M.M. (2017) ‘Soft Power: The Concept and Approaches’, MGIMO Review of International Relations, 3(54), pp. 212–223. Available at: https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2017-3-54-212-223.
• Letnyakov, D.E. (2015) ‘Role of Russian Language in Post-Soviet Central Asia’, The Journal of Political Theory, Political Philosophy and Sociology of Politics Politeia, 79(4), pp. 100–115. Available at: https://doi.org/10.30570/2078-5089-2015-79-4-5-100-115.
• Lukin, A. (2016) ‘Post-Bipolar World: Peaceful Coexistence or Chaos?’, World Economy and International Relations, 60(1), pp. 17–29. Available at: https://doi.org/10.20542/0131-2227-2016-60-1-17-29.
• Mäkinen, S. (2016) ‘In Search of the Status of an Educational Great Power? Analysis of Russia’s Educational Diplomacy Discourse’, Problems of Post-Communism, 63(3), pp. 183–196. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2016.1172489.
• Markwick, R.D. (1990) ‘Peaceful coexistence, detente and third world struggles: The soviet view, from Lenin to Brezhnev’, Australian Journal of International Affairs, 44(2), pp. 171–194. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10357719008445031.
• Montagno, G.L. (1965) ‘Peaceful Coexistence: Pakistan and Red China’, The Western Political Quarterly, 18(2), p. 309. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/444999.
• Mueller, W. (2011) A Good Example of Peaceful Coexistence?: The Soviet Union, Austria, and Neutrality, 1955-1991. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv3znxsz.
• Mukhametov, R. (2019) ‘COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF “SOFT POWER” OF RUSSIA AND THE EU IN THE POST-SOVIET SPACE (Сравнительный анализ «Мягкой силы» РФ и ес на постсоветском пространстве)’. Available at: https://doi.org/10.24411/2221-3279-2019-10029.
• Nye, J.S. (2021) ‘Soft power: the evolution of a concept’, Journal of Political Power, 14(1), pp. 196–208. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/2158379X.2021.1879572.
• Rotaru, V. (2018) ‘Forced Attraction?: How Russia is Instrumentalizing Its Soft Power Sources in the “Near Abroad”’, Problems of Post-Communism, 65(1), pp. 37–48. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2016.1276400.
• Rutland, P. and Kazantsev, A. (2016) ‘The limits of Russia’s “soft power”’, Journal of Political Power, 9(3), pp. 395–413. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/2158379X.2016.1232287.
• Schröder, B. (1969) ‘Pierre Fevre, La coexistence mondiale et la raison d’Etat: Trois essais de philosophie politique. Paris: Aubier-Montaigne, 1967, pp. 226.’, Canadian Journal of Political Science, 2(4), pp. 532–532. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423900025518.
• Sergunin, A. and Karabeshkin, L. (2015) ‘Understanding Russia’s Soft Power Strategy’, Politics, 35(3–4), pp. 347–363. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9256.12109.
• Szostek, J. (2017) ‘The Power and Limits of Russia’s Strategic Narrative in Ukraine: The Role of Linkage’, Perspectives on Politics, 15(2), pp. 379–395. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S153759271700007X.
• Szostek, J. (2018) ‘The Mass Media and Russia’s “Sphere of Interests”: Mechanisms of Regional Hegemony in Belarus and Ukraine’, Geopolitics, 23(2), pp. 307–329. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2017.1402298.
• Thakur, R. (2008) ‘Between Socialist Internationalism and Peaceful Coexistence: Poland and the Vietnam War’, Australian Journal of Politics & History, 30(3), pp. 378–390. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8497.1984.tb00224.x.
• Tsygankov, A.P. (2006) ‘If not by tanks, then by banks? The role of soft power in Putin’s foreign policy’, Europe-Asia Studies, 58(7), pp. 1079–1099. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668130600926355.
• Wilson, J.L. (2015) ‘Soft Power: A Comparison of Discourse and Practice in Russia and China’, Europe-Asia Studies, 67(8), pp. 1171–1202. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2015.1078108.
• Yablokov, I. (2015) ‘Conspiracy Theories as a Russian Public Diplomacy Tool: The Case of Russia Today ( RT )’, Politics, 35(3–4), pp. 301–315. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9256.12097.

Lecture 3: Foreign Policy Schools – Legacy and Adaptation

Core Required Reading

Sergunin, A.A. (2016) Explaining Russian foreign policy behavior: theory and practice. Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag (Soviet and post-soviet politics and society, vol. 147).

• The Soviet legacy
• The Post-Soviet IR: adapting to change
• Mapping post-Soviet IR: institutional dimension and topics for research

Recommended Reading

• An, S. and Kulmala, M. (2021) ‘Global deinstitutionalisation policy in the post-Soviet space: A comparison of child-welfare reforms in Russia and Kazakhstan’, Global Social Policy, 21(1), pp. 51–74. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1468018120913312.
• Arbatov, A.G. (1993) ‘Russia’s Foreign Policy Alternatives’, International Security, 18(2), p. 5. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2539096.
• Bogdanova, E. (2018) ‘Obtaining redress for abuse of office in Russia: The Soviet legacy and the long road to administrative justice’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 51(3), pp. 273–284. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2018.07.002.
• Chafetz, G. (1996) ‘The Struggle for a National Identity in Post-Soviet Russia’, Political Science Quarterly, 111(4), p. 661. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2152089.
• Charles H. Fairbanks Jr. (2009) ‘Georgia’s Soviet Legacy’, Journal of Democracy, 21(1), pp. 144–151. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.0.0135.
• Costa Buranelli, F. (2018) ‘Spheres of Influence as Negotiated Hegemony – The Case of Central Asia’, Geopolitics, 23(2), pp. 378–403. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2017.1413355.
• D’Anieri, P. (2012) ‘Conclusion: Nowhere nation or better life? Ukraine’s past and future’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 45(3–4), pp. 457–459. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2012.06.009.
• English, R.D. (2011) ‘“Merely an above-average product of the Soviet nomenklatura”? Assessing leadership in the Cold War’s end’, International Politics, 48(4–5), pp. 607–626. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2011.25.
• Eriksson, J. and Privalov, R. (2021) ‘Russian space policy and identity: visionary or reactionary?’, Journal of International Relations and Development, 24(2), pp. 381–407. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-020-00195-8.
• Ferguson, I. (2018) ‘Between New Spheres of Influence: Ukraine’s Geopolitical Misfortune’, Geopolitics, 23(2), pp. 285–306. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2017.1402299.
• Gioe, D.V., Lovering, R. and Pachesny, T. (2020) ‘The Soviet Legacy of Russian Active Measures: New Vodka from Old Stills?’, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 33(3), pp. 514–539. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2020.1725364.
• Güler, M.Ç. (2021) ‘The Quest for Soviet Legacy in Russian Foreign Policy’, Insight Turkey, pp. 283–293. Available at: https://doi.org/10.25253/99.2021232.15.
• Jackson, V. (2020) ‘Understanding spheres of influence in international politics’, European Journal of International Security, 5(3), pp. 255–273. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/eis.2019.21.
• Klin, T. (2020) ‘The Significance of Foreign Military Bases as Instruments of Spheres of Influence’, Croatian international relations review, 26(87), pp. 120–144. Available at: https://doi.org/10.37173/cirr.26.87.5.
• Kramer, M. (2019) ‘The Soviet Legacy in Russian Foreign Policy’, Political Science Quarterly, 134(4), pp. 585–609. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/polq.12988.
• Matveeva, A. (1999) ‘Democratization, Legitimacy and Political Change in Central Asia’, International Affairs, 75(1), pp. 23–44. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.00058.
• Morozov, V. (2009) ‘Obsessed with identity: the IR in post-Soviet Russia’, Journal of International Relations and Development, 12(2), pp. 200–205. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/jird.2009.9.
• Mshvenieradze, V.V. (1987) ‘New Political Thinking’, Soviet Law and Government, 26(2), pp. 50–65. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2753/RUP1061-1940260250.
• Narozhna, T. (2022) ‘Misrecognition, ontological security and state foreign policy: the case of post-Soviet Russia’, Australian Journal of International Affairs, 76(1), pp. 76–97. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10357718.2021.1985963.
• Ortmann, S. (2018) ‘Beyond Spheres of Influence: The Myth of the State and Russia’s Seductive Power in Kyrgyzstan’, Geopolitics, 23(2), pp. 404–435. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2018.1451843.
• Patman, R.G. (1999) ‘Reagan, Gorbachev and the emergence of “New Political Thinking”’, Review of International Studies, 25(4), pp. 577–601. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S026021059900577X.
• Petro, N.N. (1990) ‘New political thinking and Russian patriotism: The dichotomy of perestroika’, Comparative Strategy, 9(4), pp. 351–370. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01495939008402820.
• Radchenko, S. (2015) ‘Sino-Soviet Relations in the 1970s and IR Theory’, in G. Rozman (ed.) Misunderstanding Asia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 47–65. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137506726_3.
• Romaniuc, R. et al. (2022) ‘Understanding cross-cultural differences in peer reporting practices: evidence from tax evasion games in Moldova and France’, Public Choice, 190(1–2), pp. 127–147. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-021-00925-7.
• Sergunin, A.A. (2004) ‘Discussions of international relations in post-communism Russia’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 37(1), pp. 19–35. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2003.12.007.
• Smith, H. (2016) ‘Statecraft and Post-Imperial Attractiveness: Eurasian Integration and Russia as a Great Power’, Problems of Post-Communism, 63(3), pp. 171–182. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2016.1145063.
• Stepanova, E. (2019) ‘Competing Moral Discourses in Russia: Soviet Legacy and Post-Soviet Controversies’, Politics, Religion & Ideology, 20(3), pp. 340–360. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2019.1656070.
• Suslov, M. (2018) ‘“Russian World” Concept: Post-Soviet Geopolitical Ideology and the Logic of “Spheres of Influence”’, Geopolitics, 23(2), pp. 330–353. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2017.1407921.
• Tsitkilov, P.I. (2000) ‘The 243 Days of Evgenii Primakov’, Russian Politics & Law, 38(2), pp. 34–51. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2753/RUP1061-1940380234.
• Tsygankov, A.P. (2008) ‘Self and Other in International Relations Theory: Learning from Russian Civilizational Debates’, International Studies Review, 10(4), pp. 762–775. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2486.2008.00831.x.
• Tsygankov, A.P. and Tsygankov, P.A. (2004) ‘New directions in Russian international studies: pluralization, Westernization, and isolationism’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 37(1), pp. 1–17. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2003.12.005.

Lecture 4: Foreign Policy Schools – Atlanticism vs. Eurasianism Dichotomy & Derzhavniki

Core Required Reading

Sergunin, A.A. (2016) Explaining Russian foreign policy behavior: theory and practice. Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag (Soviet and post-soviet politics and society, vol. 147).

• The Atlanticists (“Westerners”)
• Eurasianism
• The rise of the derzhavniki

Recommended Reading

• Baranovsky, V.G. et al. (2019) ‘The Method of Situation Analysis of International Relations as A Forecasting Tool Under Conditions of Transforming World Order’, MGIMO Review of International Relations, 12(4), pp. 7–23. Available at: https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2019-4-67-7-23.
• Blank, S. (1999) ‘After Primakov [The evolving context of Russian national security policy]: The evolving context of Russian national security policy’, Cahiers du monde russe : Russie, Empire russe, Union soviétique, États indépendants, 40(4), pp. 695–721. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3406/cmr.1999.1025.
• Daniels, R.V. (1999) ‘Evgenii Primakov: Contender by Chance’, Problems of Post-Communism, 46(5), pp. 27–36. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.1999.11655849.
• Delong, M. (2020) ‘The Concept of Russian Federation Foreign and Security Policy by Eugene Primakov’, Internal Security, 12(1), pp. 307–318. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0014.3205.
• Devyatov, S. (2020) ‘New view on the Russia’s political history of the last third of the 20th century’, OOO “Zhurnal ‘Voprosy Istorii’, 2020(01), pp. 258–265. Available at: https://doi.org/10.31166/VoprosyIstorii202001Statyi29.
• Dobriansky, P.J. (2000) ‘Russian foreign policy: Promise or peril?’, The Washington Quarterly, 23(1), pp. 135–144. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1162/016366000560601.
• Entin, M. and Entina, E. (2016) ‘The New Role of Russia in the Greater Eurasia’, Strategic Analysis, 40(6), pp. 590–603. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2016.1224060.
• Kalinin, K. (2019) ‘Neo-Eurasianism and the Russian elite: the irrelevance of Aleksandr Dugin’s geopolitics’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 35(5–6), pp. 461–470. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2019.1663050.
• Katzenstein, P.J. and Weygandt, N. (2017) ‘Mapping Eurasia in an Open World: How the Insularity of Russia’s Geopolitical and Civilizational Approaches Limits Its Foreign Policies’, Perspectives on Politics, 15(2), pp. 428–442. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S153759271700010X.
• Kerr, D. (1995) ‘The new Eurasianism: The rise of geopolitics in Russia’s foreign policy’, Europe-Asia Studies, 47(6), pp. 977–988. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668139508412300.
• Kim, T. (2009) ‘Impassive to Imperial? Russia in Northeast Asia from Yeltsin to Putin’, in V.K. Aggarwal et al. (eds) Northeast Asia. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg (The Political Economy of the Asia Pacific), pp. 179–211. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-79594-0_6.
• Koldunova, E. (2015) ‘Russia as a Euro-Pacific power: Dilemmas of Russian foreign policy decision-making’, International Relations, 29(3), pp. 378–394. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117815600935.
• Kozyrev, A. (1991) ‘Russia: A Chance for Survival’, Foreign Affairs, 71(2), p. 1. Available at: Law Journal Library – HeinOnline.org.
• Kozyrev, A. (1995) ‘Partnership or Cold Peace?’, Foreign Policy, (99), p. 3. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1149002.
• Kozyrev, A. (1998) ‘Russia and the World’s New Security Agenda’, International Relations, 14(1), pp. 41–49. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/004711789801400104.
• Kozyrev, A.V. (1992) ‘Russia and Human Rights’, Slavic Review, 51(2), pp. 287–293. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2499532.
• Kubyshkin, A. and Sergunin, A. (2012) ‘The Problem of the “Special Path” in Russian Foreign Policy: (From the 1990s to the Early Twenty-First Century)’, Russian Politics & Law, 50(6), pp. 7–18. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2753/RUP1061-1940500601.
• Lieven, A. (1995) ‘Russian Opposition to NATO Expansion’, The World Today, 51(10), pp. 196–199. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40396653.
• Litvak, K. (1996) ‘The role of political competition and bargaining in Russian foreign policy: The case of Russian policy toward Moldova’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 29(2), pp. 213–229. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-067X(96)80006-7.
• Lynch, A.C. (2001) ‘The Realism of Russia’s Foreign Policy’, Europe-Asia Studies, 53(1), pp. 7–31. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668130124714.
• Mäkinen, S. (2016) ‘Professional Geopolitics as an Ideal: Roles of Geopolitics in Russia’, International Studies Perspectives, p. ekw003. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/isp/ekw003.
• McCallum, A. (2020) ‘Perviy Kanal’s Trotsky and the “Atlanticisation” of Leon Trotsky’s Legacy’, Australian Journal of Politics & History, 66(3), pp. 432–449. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajph.12693.
• Morozova, N. (2009) ‘Geopolitics, Eurasianism and Russian Foreign Policy Under Putin’, Geopolitics, 14(4), pp. 667–686. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650040903141349.
• Papava, V. (2013) ‘The Eurasianism of Russian Anti-Westernism and the Concept of “Central Caucaso-Asia”’, Russian Politics & Law, 51(6), pp. 45–86. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2753/RUP1061-1940510602.
• Patomäki, H. and Pursiainen, C. (1999) ‘Western Models and the “Russian Idea”: Beyond “Inside/Outside” in Discourses on Civil Society’, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 28(1), pp. 53–77. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/03058298990280010901.
• Popovich, I. (2000) ‘The Tbilisi Secrets of Evgenii Primakov’, Russian Politics & Law, 38(1), pp. 55–61. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2753/RUP1061-1940380155.
• Pushkov, A.K. (1993) ‘Letter from Eurasia: Russia and America: The Honeymoon’s over’, Foreign Policy, (93), pp. 76–90. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1149021.
• Rangsimaporn, P. (2006) ‘Interpretations of Eurasianism: Justifying Russia’s role in East Asia’, Europe-Asia Studies, 58(3), pp. 371–389. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668130600601750.
• Roberto Valle (2015) ‘La Grande Russia e l’Eurasia. La geopolitica russa e l’asia centrale tra il Great Game del XiX secolo e il New Great Game del XXi secolo’, Storia del pensiero politico, (3), pp. 451–474. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4479/82010.
• Senderov, V. (2009) ‘Neo-Eurasianism: Realities, Dangers, Prospects’, Russian Politics & Law, 47(1), pp. 24–46. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2753/RUP1061-1940470102.
• Shlapentokh, D. (2007) ‘Dugin, Eurasianism, and Central Asia’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 40(2), pp. 143–156. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2007.04.002.
• Shlapentokh, D. (2008) ‘Islam and Orthodox Russia: From Eurasianism to Islamism’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 41(1), pp. 27–46. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2008.01.002.
• Skladanowski, M. (2019) ‘The Myth of Russian Exceptionalism: Russia as a Civilization and Its Uniqueness in Aleksandr G. Dugin’s Thought’, Politics, Religion & Ideology, 20(4), pp. 423–446. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2019.1697870.
• Welch Behringer, P.J. (2022) ‘The Age of Enlightenment Comes to the Kremlin: Andrei Kozyrev: The Firebird: The Elusive Fate of Russian Democracy; A Memoir University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 2019, 352 p., $22.00 (Paperback).’, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 35(3), pp. 576–580. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2021.1930971.

Lecture 5: Foreign Policy Schools – Realism, Geopolitics, and Globalism

Core Required Reading

Sergunin, A.A. (2016) Explaining Russian foreign policy behavior: theory and practice. Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag (Soviet and post-soviet politics and society, vol. 147).

• Realism: return of the repressed
• Geopolitics: new opportunities in Russia?
• The idealist / liberal paradigm
• Globalism

Recommended Reading

• Becker, M.E. et al. (2016) ‘Reviving the Russian empire: the Crimean intervention through a neoclassical realist lens’, European Security, 25(1), pp. 112–133. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09662839.2015.1084290.
• Berryman, J. (2012) ‘Geopolitics and Russian foreign policy’, International Politics, 49(4), pp. 530–544. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2012.15.
• Clark, J. and Jones, A. (2019) ‘Geopolitical teleconnections: Diplomacy, events, and foreign policy’, Political Geography, 75, p. 102049. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2019.102049.
• D’Anieri, P. (2019) ‘Magical realism: assumptions, evidence and prescriptions in the Ukraine conflict’, Eurasian Geography and Economics, 60(1), pp. 97–117. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2019.1627231.
• Diesen, G. (2020) ‘Russia as an international conservative power: the rise of the right-wing populists and their affinity towards Russia’, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 28(2), pp. 182–196. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2019.1705770.
• Götz, E. (2022) ‘Taking the Longer View: A Neoclassical Realist Account of Russia’s Neighbourhood Policy’, Europe-Asia Studies, 74(9), pp. 1729–1763. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2022.2120183.
• Haerpfer, C.W. (2008) ‘Support for Democracy and Autocracy in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, 1992—2002’, International Political Science Review, 29(4), pp. 411–431. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512108095721.
• Johnson, C. and Derrick, M. (2012) ‘A Splintered Heartland: Russia, Europe, and the Geopolitics of Networked Energy Infrastructure’, Geopolitics, 17(3), pp. 482–501. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2011.595439.
• Keypour, J. and Hendla, I. (2019) ‘The Annexation of Crimea: A Realist Look from the Energy Resources Perspective’, Baltic Journal of European Studies, 9(3), pp. 148–165. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2019-0027.
• Klinke, I. (2012) ‘Postmodern Geopolitics? The European Union Eyes Russia’, Europe-Asia Studies, 64(5), pp. 929–947. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2012.676237.
• Koch, N. and Tynkkynen, V.-P. (2021) ‘The Geopolitics of Renewables in Kazakhstan and Russia’, Geopolitics, 26(2), pp. 521–540. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2019.1583214.
• Korolev, A. (2016) ‘Russia’s Reorientation to Asia: Causes and Strategic Implications’, Pacific Affairs, 89(1), pp. 53–73. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5509/201689153.
• Korolev, A. and Portyakov, V. (2018) ‘China-Russia Relations in Times of Crisis: A Neoclassical Realist Explanation’, Asian Perspective, 42(3), pp. 411–437. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1353/apr.2018.0018.
• Krickovic, A. (2014) ‘Imperial nostalgia or prudent geopolitics? Russia’s efforts to reintegrate the post-Soviet space in geopolitical perspective’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 30(6), pp. 503–528. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2014.900975.
• Lukin, V. (2021) ‘A Multilevel World and a Flat Worldview: A Realist and Progressive Synthesis for Russia’, Russian Politics, 6(4), pp. 435–452. Available at: https://doi.org/10.30965/24518921-00604003.
• Makarychev, A. and Yatsyk, A. (2017) ‘Biopower and geopolitics as Russia’s neighborhood strategies: reconnecting people or reaggregating lands?’, Nationalities Papers, 45(1), pp. 25–40. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2016.1248385.
• Mäkinen, S. (2014) ‘Geopolitics Teaching and Worldviews: Making the Future Generation in Russia’, Geopolitics, 19(1), pp. 86–108. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2013.847430.
• Nikitin, A. (2008) ‘RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY IN THE FRAGMENTED POST-SOVIET SPACE’, International Journal on World Peace, 25(2), pp. 7–31. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20752831.
• Nitoiu, C. and Pasatoiu, F. (2020) ‘Hybrid geopolitics in EU-Russia relations: understanding the persistence of conflict and cooperation’, East European Politics, 36(4), pp. 499–514. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2020.1838488.
• Piiparinen, T. (2016) ‘Is it time to transcend political realism in the EU-Russia security cooperation? Exploring the critical realist model of emancipatory windows’, Journal of International Relations and Development, 19(3), pp. 365–391. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/jird.2014.16.
• Raik, K. (2016) ‘Liberalism and geopolitics in EU–Russia relations: rereading the “Baltic factor”’, European Security, 25(2), pp. 237–255. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09662839.2016.1179628.
• Romanova, T. (2021) ‘Russia’s political discourse on the EU’s energy transition (2014–2019) and its effect on EU-Russia energy relations’, Energy Policy, 154, p. 112309. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112309.
• Serebryakov, F.F. and Krasnov, A.S. (2019) ‘Social (Political and Economical) Essence of Globalism and Its Existential Manifistations’, Journal of Politics and Law, 12(5), p. 156. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5539/jpl.v12n5p156.
• Shakleyina, T.A. and Bogaturov, A.D. (2004) ‘The Russian Realist school of international relations’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 37(1), pp. 37–51. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2003.12.002.
• Spechler, D.R. and Spechler, M.C. (2009) ‘Uzbekistan among the great powers’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 42(3), pp. 353–373. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2009.07.006.
• Szeptycki, A. (2021) ‘Poland versus Russia: Competition in Ukraine’, East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures, 35(4), pp. 1113–1135. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325420950803.
• Tsygankov, A.P. (2003) ‘Mastering space in Eurasia: Russia’s geopolitical thinking after the Soviet break-up’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 36(1), pp. 101–127. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-067X(02)00055-7.
• Wallander, C.A. (2007) ‘8. Global Challenges and Russian Foreign Policy’, in R. Legvold (ed.) Russian Foreign Policy in the Twenty-first Century and the Shadow of                the Past. Columbia University Press, pp. 443–498. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7312/legv14122-009.
• Wigell, M. and Vihma, A. (2016) ‘Geopolitics versus geoeconomics: the case of Russia’s geostrategy and its effects on the EU’, International Affairs, 92(3), pp. 605–627. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.12600.
• Ziegler, C.E. (2016) ‘Russia on the rebound: using and misusing the Responsibility to Protect’, International Relations, 30(3), pp. 346–361. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117816659590.
• Zimmermann, H. (2007) ‘Realist Power Europe? The EU in the Negotiations about China’s and Russia’s WTO Accession’, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 45(4), pp. 813–832. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.2007.00749.x.

Lecture 6: Foreign Policy Schools – Others & Absent

Core Required Reading

Sergunin, A.A. (2016) Explaining Russian foreign policy behavior: theory and practice. Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag (Soviet and post-soviet politics and society, vol. 147).

• The Social Democrats
• The “right radicals”
• Postpositivism in Russia?
• A foreign policy consensus?

Recommended Reading

• Batty, S.E. and Danilovic, V. (1997) ‘Gorbachev’s Strategy of Political Centrism: A Game-Theoretic Interpretation’, Journal of Theoretical Politics, 9(1), pp. 89–106. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0951692897009001009.
• Beichelt, T. (2009) ‘Two variants of the Russian radical right: Imperial and social nationalism’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 42(4), pp. 505–526. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2009.10.005.
• Brown, A. (2013) ‘Did Gorbachev as General Secretary Become a Social Democrat?’, Europe-Asia Studies, 65(2), pp. 198–220. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2012.759713.
• Bunce, V. (1993) ‘Domestic reform and international change: the Gorbachev reforms in historical perspective’, International Organization, 47(1), pp. 107–138. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818300004720.
• Checkel, J. (1993) ‘Ideas, Institutions, and the Gorbachev Foreign Policy Revolution’, World Politics, 45(2), pp. 271–300. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2950660.
• Collins, A.R. (1998) ‘GRIT, Gorbachev and the end of the Cold War’, Review of International Studies, 24(2), pp. 201–219. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210598002010.
• Forsberg, T. (1999) ‘Power, interests and trust: explaining Gorbachev’s choices at the end of the Cold War’, Review of International Studies, 25(4), pp. 603–621. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210599006038.
• Henry, L. and Plantan, E. (2022) ‘Activism in exile: how Russian environmentalists maintain voice after exit’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 38(4), pp. 274–292. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2021.2002629.
• Henry, L.A. (2010) ‘Between transnationalism and state power: the development of Russia’s post-Soviet environmental movement’, Environmental Politics, 19(5), pp. 756–781. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2010.508308.
• Lambakis, S. (1993) ‘Churchill versus Gorbachev: The Bout of the century’, Comparative Strategy, 12(2), pp. 225–232. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01495939308402919.
• Lane, D. (1996) ‘The Gorbachev Revolution: The Role of the Political Elite in Regime Disintegration’, Political Studies, 44(1), pp. 4–23. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.1996.tb00754.x.
• Laruelle, M. (2010) ‘The Ideological Shift on the Russian Radical Right: From Demonizing the West to Fear of Migrants’, Problems of Post-Communism, 57(6), pp. 19–31. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2753/PPC1075-8216570602.
• Laruelle, M. (2014) ‘Alexei Navalny and challenges in reconciling “nationalism” and “liberalism”’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 30(4), pp. 276–297. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2013.872453.
• Levintova, E. (2012) ‘Being the opposition in contemporary Russia: The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) among social-democratic, Marxist–Leninist and nationalist–socialist discourses’, Party Politics, 18(5), pp. 727–747. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068810389637.
• Lipatova, N.V. (2013) ‘On the Verge of the Collapse of Empire: Images of Alexander Kerensky and Mikhail Gorbachev’, Europe-Asia Studies, 65(2), pp. 264–289. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2012.759715.
• Michael, G. (2019) ‘Useful Idiots or Fellow Travelers? The Relationship between the American Far Right and Russia’, Terrorism and Political Violence, 31(1), pp. 64–83. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2018.1555996.
• Newton, J.M. (2013) ‘Gorbachev, Mitterrand, and the Emergence of the Post-Cold War Order in Europe’, Europe-Asia Studies, 65(2), pp. 290–320. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2012.759716.
• Pijl, K.V.D. (2001) ‘From Gorbachev to Kosovo: Atlantic rivalries and the re-incorporation of Eastern Europe’, Review of International Political Economy, 8(2), pp. 275–310. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290010033394.
• Rabotyazhev, N.V. (2018) ‘EUROPEAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY IN SEARCH OF RESPONSES TO CHALLENGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY’, World Economy and International Relations, 62(11), pp. 15–25. Available at: https://doi.org/10.20542/0131-2227-2018-62-11-15-25.
• Schuster, A. (1971) ‘Women’s Role in the Soviet Union: Ideology and Reality’, Russian Review, 30(3), p. 260. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/128134.
• Snyder, J. (2011) ‘The domestic political logic of Gorbachev’s new thinking in foreign policy’, International Politics, 48(4–5), pp. 562–574. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2011.22.
• Stein, J.G. (1994) ‘Political learning by doing: Gorbachev as uncommitted thinker and motivated learner’, International Organization, 48(2), pp. 155–183. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818300028150.
• Svec, M. (1987) ‘Removing Gorbachev’s Edge’, Foreign Policy, (69), p. 148. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1148593.
• Tay, A.E.-S. (1972) ‘The Status of Women in the Soviet Union’, The American Journal of Comparative Law, 20(4), p. 662. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/839036.
• Tompson, W.J. (1993) ‘Khrushchev and Gorbachev as Reformers: A Comparison’, British Journal of Political Science, 23(1), pp. 77–105. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123400006578.
• Vanhala-Aniszewski, M. and Siilin, L. (2013) ‘The Representation of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Twenty-first Century Russian Media’, Europe-Asia Studies, 65(2), pp. 221–243. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2012.759720.
• Wallace, M.D., Suedfeld, P. and Thachuk, K.A. (1996) ‘Failed Leader or Successful Peacemaker? Crisis, Behavior, and the Cognitive Processes of Mikhail Sergeyevitch Gorbachev’, Political Psychology, 17(3), p. 453. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/3791964.
• Winter, D.G. et al. (1991) ‘The Personalities of Bush and Gorbachev Measured at a Distance: Procedures, Portraits, and Policy’, Political Psychology, 12(2), p. 215. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/3791463.
• Winter, D.G. et al. (1991) ‘The Personalities of Bush and Gorbachev at a Distance: Follow-Up on Predictions’, Political Psychology, 12(3), p. 457. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/3791754.
• Young, C. (1992) ‘The Strategy of Political Liberalization: A Comparative View of Gorbachev’s Reforms’, World Politics, 45(1), pp. 47–65. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2010518.

Lecture 7: Security Challenges Implications

Core Required Reading

Sergunin, A.A. (2016) Explaining Russian foreign policy behavior: theory and practice. Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag (Soviet and post-soviet politics and society, vol. 147).

• Early concepts
• Russia’s Law on Security of 1992
• Russia’s foreign policy concept of 1993
• The Russian military doctrine of 1993
• The National Security Concept of the Russian Federation (1997)

Recommended Reading

• Åslund, A. (2011) ‘Revisiting the End of the Soviet Union’, Problems of Post-Communism, 58(4–5), pp. 46–55. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2753/PPC1075-8216580404.
• Bluth, C. (1988) ‘The evolution of Soviet military doctrine’, Survival, 30(2), pp. 149–161. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338808442402.
• Brudny, Y.M. (1997) ‘In Pursuit of the Russian Presidency: Why and How Yeltsin Won the 1996 Presidential Election’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 30(3), pp. 255–275. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-067X(97)00007-X.
• Brzezinski, Z. (1994) ‘The Premature Partnership’, Foreign Affairs, 73(2), p. 67. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/20045920.
• Chandler, A. (2001) ‘Presidential Veto Power in Post-Communist Russia, 1994-1998’, Canadian Journal of Political Science, 34(3), pp. 487–516. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423901777980.
• Chernov, V. (1994) ‘Significance of the Russian military doctrine’, Comparative Strategy, 13(2), pp. 161–166. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01495939408402970.
• de Haas, M. (2001) ‘An analysis of Soviet, CIS and Russian military doctrines 1990–2000’, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 14(4), pp. 1–34. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13518040108430496.
• de Haas, M. (2011) RUSSIA’S MILITARY DOCTRINE DEVELOPMENT (2000-10). Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, pp. 1–62. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep12071.5.
• Derleth, J.W. (1996) ‘The evolution of the Russian polity: The case of the Security Council’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 29(1), pp. 43–58. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-067X(96)80011-0.
• Dick, C.J. (1994) ‘The military doctrine of the Russian federation’, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 7(3), pp. 481–506. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13518049408430155.
• Dobson, R.B. and Grant, S.A. (1992) ‘PUBLIC OPINION AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SOVIET UNION’, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 4(4), pp. 302–320. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/4.4.302.
• FitzGerald, M.C. (1993) ‘Russia’s New Military Doctrine’, Naval War College Review, 46(2), pp. 24–44. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44642448.
• Glantz, M.E. (1994) ‘The origins and development of Soviet and Russian military doctrine’, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 7(3), pp. 443–480. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13518049408430154.
• Godzimirski, J.M. (2000) ‘Russian national security concepts 1997 and 2000: A comparative analysis’, European Security, 9(4), pp. 73–91. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09662830008407473.
• Karaganov, S. (2016) ‘Global Challenges and Russia’s Foreign Policy’, Strategic Analysis, 40(6), pp. 461–473. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2016.1224063.
• Kaufman, S. (1993) ‘Lessons from the 1991 Gulf War and Russian military doctrine’, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 6(3), pp. 375–396. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13518049308430108.
• Kipp, J.W. (1994) ‘Russian military doctrine and military technical policy: An American military historian’s perspective’, Comparative Strategy, 13(1), pp. 25–41. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01495939408402951.
• Klimenko, A.N. and Yurtaev, V.I. (2018) ‘The Moscow as the Third Rome Concept: Its Nature and Interpretations in the 19th –Early 21th Centuries.’, Geopolítica(s). Revista de estudios sobre espacio y poder, 9(2), pp. 253–289. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5209/GEOP.58910.
• Knight, A. (1993) ‘Russian Security Services Under Yel’tsin’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 9(1), pp. 40–65. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.1993.10641359.
• Kovner, M. (1993) ‘Russia in search of a foreign policy’, Comparative Strategy, 12(3), pp. 307–320. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01495939308402932.
• Kropatcheva, E. (2015) ‘The Evolution of Russia’s OSCE Policy: From the Promises of the Helsinki Final Act to the Ukrainian Crisis’, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 23(1), pp. 6–24. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2014.1001823.
• Levintova, E. and Butterfield, J. (2010) ‘History education and historical remembrance in contemporary Russia: Sources of political attitudes of pro-Kremlin youth’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 43(2), pp. 139–166. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2009.10.008.
• Light, M. (2003) ‘In search of an identity: Russian foreign policy and the end of ideology’, Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 19(3), pp. 42–59. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13523270300660017.
• Light, M. (2015) ‘Russian Foreign Policy Themes in Official Documents and Speeches: Tracing Continuity and Change’, in D. Cadier and M. Light (eds) Russia’s Foreign Policy. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 13–29. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137468888_2.
• Lynch, A.C. (2016) ‘The influence of regime type on Russian foreign policy toward “the West,” 1992–2015’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 49(1), pp. 101–111. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2015.12.004.
• Mishler, W. and Willerton, J.P. (2003) ‘The Dynamics of Presidential Popularity in Post-Communist Russia: Cultural Imperative versus Neo-Institutional Choice?’, The Journal of Politics, 65(1), pp. 111–141. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2508.t01-1-00006.
• Radchenko, S. (2020) ‘“Nothing but humiliation for Russia”: Moscow and NATO’s eastern enlargement, 1993-1995’, Journal of Strategic Studies, 43(6–7), pp. 769–815. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2020.1820331.
• Rontoyanni, C. (2002) ‘So far, so good? Russia and the ESDP’, International Affairs, 78(4), pp. 813–830. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.00281.
• Sarotte, M.E. (2019) ‘How to Enlarge NATO: The Debate inside the Clinton Administration, 1993–95’, International Security, 44(1), pp. 7–41. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00353.
• Schneider, W. (1994) ‘The New Populism’, Political Psychology, 15(4), p. 779. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/3791636.
• Simes, D. (1994) ‘The Return of Russian History’, Foreign Affairs, 73(1), p. 67. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/20045892.
• Smyth, R. (2002) ‘Building State Capacity from the Inside Out: Parties of Power and the Success of the President’s Reform Agenda in Russia’, Politics & Society, 30(4), pp. 555–578. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/003232902237826.
• Wallander, C.A. (2000) ‘Wary of the West: Russian Security Policy at the Millennium’, Arms Control Today, 30(2), pp. 7–12. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23626196.
• Yost, D.S. (2001) ‘Russia’s non-strategic nuclear forces’, International Affairs, 77(3), pp. 531–551. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.00205.

Lecture 8: Putin’s Era

Core Required Reading

Sergunin, A.A. (2016) Explaining Russian foreign policy behavior: theory and practice. Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag (Soviet and post-soviet politics and society, vol. 147).

• The Putin-1 era
• The Medvedev era
• The Putin-2 era

Recommended Reading

• Baek, J.K. (2009) ‘Medvedev’s Russia, a “revisionist power” or an “architect of a new world order”? The evolution of ideational factors and its cases’, Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, 21(4), pp. 455–484. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10163270903298942.
• Bratersky, M. (2016) ‘The Evolution of National Security Thinking in Post-Soviet Russia’, Strategic Analysis, 40(6), pp. 513–523. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2016.1224067.
• Bukkvoll, T. (2016) ‘Why Putin went to war: ideology, interests and decision-making in the Russian use of force in Crimea and Donbas’, Contemporary Politics, 22(3), pp. 267–282. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13569775.2016.1201310.
• Carpenter, C. and Montgomery, A.H. (2020) ‘The Stopping Power of Norms: Saturation Bombing, Civilian Immunity, and U.S. Attitudes toward the Laws of War’, International Security, 45(2), pp. 140–169. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00392.
• Charap, S. (2004) ‘The Petersburg Experience: Putin’s Political Career and Russian Foreign Policy’, Problems of Post-Communism, 51(1), pp. 55–62. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2004.11052153.
• Fisher, A., Hale, H.E. and Peshkopia, R. (2022) ‘Foreign support does not mean sway for illiberal nationalist regimes: Putin sympathy, Russian influence, and Trump foreign policy in the Balkans’, Comparative European Politics [Preprint]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-022-00308-2.
• Flikke, G. (2016) ‘Resurgent authoritarianism: the case of Russia’s new NGO legislation’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 32(2), pp. 103–131. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2015.1034981.
• Golan, G. (2004) ‘Russia and the Iraq War: was Putin’s policy a failure?’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 37(4), pp. 429–459. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2004.09.005.
• Götz, E. (2017) ‘Putin, the State, and War: The Causes of Russia’s Near Abroad Assertion Revisited’, International Studies Review, 19(2), pp. 228–253. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viw009.
• Hanson, S.E. (2011) ‘Plebiscitarian Patrimonialism in Putin’s Russia: Legitimating Authoritarianism in a Postideological Era’, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 636(1), pp. 32–48. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716211398210.
• Kieninger, S. (2021) ‘The 1999 Kosovo War and the Crisis in U.S.-Russia Relations’, The International History Review, 43(4), pp. 781–795. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/07075332.2020.1848899.
• Koopman, C. et al. (1998) ‘Beliefs about international security and change in 1992 among Russian and American national security elites.’, Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 4(1), pp. 35–57. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327949pac0401_4.
• Korolev, A. (2018) ‘Theories of Non-Balancing and Russia’s Foreign Policy’, Journal of Strategic Studies, 41(6), pp. 887–912. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2017.1283614.
• Kortunov, S. (1996) ‘The fate of Russia’, Comparative Strategy, 15(2), pp. 183–191. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01495939608403068.
• Larson, D.W. and Shevchenko, A. (2014) ‘Russia says no: Power, status, and emotions in foreign policy’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 47(3–4), pp. 269–279. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2014.09.003.
• Lynch, D. (2005) ‘“The enemy is at the gate”:1 Russia after Beslan’, International Affairs, 81(1), pp. 141–161. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2005.00442.x.
• Marten, K. (2015) ‘Informal Political Networks and Putin’s Foreign Policy: The Examples of Iran and Syria’, Problems of Post-Communism, 62(2), pp. 71–87. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2015.1010896.
• Marten, K. (2015) ‘Putin’s Choices: Explaining Russian Foreign Policy and Intervention in Ukraine’, The Washington Quarterly, 38(2), pp. 189–204. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/0163660X.2015.1064717.
• Monaghan, A. (2012) ‘The vertikal: power and authority in Russia’, International Affairs, 88(1), pp. 1–16. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2012.01053.x.
• Moshes, A. (2012) ‘Russia’s European policy under Medvedev: how sustainable is a new compromise?’, International Affairs, 88(1), pp. 17–30. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2012.01054.x.
• Pavković, A. (2017) ‘Sacralisation of contested territory in nationalist discourse: a study of Milošević’s and Putin’s public speeches’, Critical Discourse Studies, 14(5), pp. 497–513. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2017.1360191.
• Roberts, K. (2017) ‘Understanding Putin: The politics of identity and geopolitics in Russian foreign policy discourse’, International Journal: Canada’s Journal of Global Policy Analysis, 72(1), pp. 28–55. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0020702017692609.
• Saivetz, C.R. (2012) ‘Medvedev’s and Putin’s foreign policies. Introduction’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 45(3–4), pp. 375–377. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2012.07.008.
• Sakwa, R. (2008) ‘“New Cold War” or twenty years’ crisis? Russia and international politics’, International Affairs, 84(2), pp. 241–267. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2008.00702.x.
• Sharafutdinova, G. (2010) ‘Subnational Governance in Russia: How Putin Changed the Contract with His Agents and the Problems It Created for Medvedev’, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 40(4), pp. 672–696. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjp036.
• Shlapentokh, V. (2009) ‘Perceptions of foreign threats to the regime: From Lenin to Putin’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 42(3), pp. 305–324. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2009.07.003.
• Simão, L. (2012) ‘Do leaders still decide? The role of leadership in Russian foreign policymaking’, International Politics, 49(4), pp. 482–497. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2012.12.
• Spechler, D.R. (2010) ‘Russian Foreign Policy During the Putin Presidency: The Impact of Competing Approaches’, Problems of Post-Communism, 57(5), pp. 35–50. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2753/PPC1075-8216570503.
• Sperling, V. (2016) ‘Putin’s macho personality cult’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 49(1), pp. 13–23. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2015.12.001.
• Stent, A.E. (2008) ‘Restoration and Revolution in Putin’s Foreign Policy’, Europe-Asia Studies, 60(6), pp. 1089–1106. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668130802161264.
• Tichý, L. (2018) ‘Russian strategy in the age of Dmitry Medvedev’, International Politics, 55(2), pp. 189–206. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-017-0078-0.
• Treisman, D. (2002) ‘Russia Renewed?’, Foreign Affairs, 81(6), p. 58. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/20033344.
• Tsygankov, A.P. (2005) ‘Vladimir Putin’s Vision of Russia as a Normal Great Power’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 21(2), pp. 132–158. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2747/1060-586X.21.2.132.
• Tuathail (Gerard Toal), G.Ó. (2008) ‘Russia’s Kosovo: A Critical Geopolitics of the August 2008 War over South Ossetia’, Eurasian Geography and Economics, 49(6), pp. 670–705. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2747/1539-7216.49.6.670.

Lecture 9: Decision-Making System

Core Required Reading

Sergunin, A.A. (2016) Explaining Russian foreign policy behavior: theory and practice. Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag (Soviet and post-soviet politics and society, vol. 147).

• Governmental actors
• Non-governmental actors
• Conclusion

Recommended Reading

• Alden, C. (2016) Foreign Policy Analysis: New approaches. 2nd edn. Second edition. | Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; Routledge. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315442488.
• Andrew, C. (1998) ‘Intelligence and international relations in the early Cold War’, Review of International Studies, 24(3), pp. 321–330. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210598003210.
• Arduino, A. and Shuja, A. (2021) ‘Russia’s scalable soft power: leveraging defense diplomacy through the transfer of S-400 triumph’, Defense & Security Analysis, 37(4), pp. 435–452. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14751798.2021.1995963.
• Bowen, A.S. (2019) ‘Coercive diplomacy and the Donbas: Explaining Russian strategy in Eastern Ukraine’, Journal of Strategic Studies, 42(3–4), pp. 312–343. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2017.1413550.
• Bowker, M. and Ross, C. (2014) Russia after the cold war. London: Routledge.
• Bukkvoll, T. (2003) ‘Putin’s Strategic Partnership with the West: The Domestic Politics of Russian Foreign Policy’, Comparative Strategy, 22(3), pp. 223–242. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01495930390214794.
• Charap, S. and Welt, C. (2015) ‘Making Sense of Russian Foreign Policy: Guest Editors’ Introduction’, Problems of Post-Communism, 62(2), pp. 67–70. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2015.1012692.
• Freire, M.R. (2012) ‘Russian foreign policy in the making: The linkage between internal dynamics and the external context’, International Politics, 49(4), pp. 466–481. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2012.11.
• Gabuev, A. (2018) ‘Russia’s Policy Toward China: Key Players and the Decision-making Process’, in G. Rozman and S. Radchenko (eds) International Relations and Asia’s Northern Tier. Singapore: Springer Singapore, pp. 59–73. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3144-1_4.
• Grincheva, N. (2015) ‘brics Diplomacy within and beyond Russia: The Fifth brics Summit through the Screens of Three Russian Television Channels’, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 10(1), pp. 35–69. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1163/1871191X-12341289.
• Grossman, M. (2005) ‘Role Theory and Foreign Policy Change: The Transformation of Russian Foreign Policy in the 1990s’, International Politics, 42(3), pp. 334–351. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.ip.8800115.
• Hudson, V.M. and Vore, C.S. (1995) ‘Foreign Policy Analysis Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow’, Mershon International Studies Review, 39(2), p. 209. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/222751.
• Kanet, R.E. and Birgerson, S.M. (1997) ‘The Domestic-Foreign Policy Linkage in Russian Politics: Nationalist Influences on Russian Foreign Policy’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 30(4), pp. 335–344. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-067X(97)00018-4.
• Khripunov, I. and Matthews, M.M. (1996) ‘Russia’s Oil and Gas Interest Group and Its Foreign Policy Agenda’, Problems of Post-Communism, 43(3), pp. 38–48. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.1996.11655677.
• Kortunov, S. and Kortunov, A. (1994) ‘From “moralism” to “pragmatics”: New dimensions of Russian foreign policy’, Comparative Strategy, 13(3), pp. 261–276. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01495939408402981.
• Kuchins, A.C. and Zevelev, I.A. (2012) ‘Russian Foreign Policy: Continuity in Change’, The Washington Quarterly, 35(1), pp. 147–161. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/0163660X.2012.642787.
• Leichtova, M. (2016) Misunderstanding Russia: Russian Foreign Policy and the West. 1st edn. Routledge. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315595634.
• Libman, A., Stone, R.W. and Vinokurov, E. (2022) ‘Russian power and the state-owned enterprise’, European Journal of Political Economy, 73, p. 102122. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2021.102122.
• Lomagin, N. (2012) ‘Interest groups in Russian foreign policy: The invisible hand of the Russian Orthodox Church’, International Politics, 49(4), pp. 498–516. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2012.13.
• Lynch, A.C. (2002) ‘The Evolution of Russian Foreign Policy in the 1990s’, Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 18(1), pp. 161–182. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13523270209696372.
• Malcolm, N. and Pravda, A. (1996) ‘Democratization and Russian foreign policy’, International Affairs, 72(3), pp. 537–552. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2625556.
• Marten, K. (2017) ‘The “KGB State” and Russian Political and Foreign Policy Culture’, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 30(2), pp. 131–151. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13518046.2017.1270053.
• McFaul, M. (1997) ‘A Precarious Peace: Domestic Politics in the Making of Russian Foreign Policy’, International Security, 22(3), p. 5. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2539356.
• Molchanov, M.A. (2016) Eurasian Regionalisms and Russian Foreign Policy. 1st edn. Routledge. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315580760.
• Nick Pay, V. and Calvo, H.G. (2020) ‘Arctic Diplomacy: A Theoretical Evaluation of Russian Foreign Policy in the High North’, Russian Politics, 5(1), pp. 105–130. Available at: https://doi.org/10.30965/24518921-00501005.
• Nitoiu, C. (2018) ‘The Influence of External Actors on Foreign Policy in the Post-Soviet Space’, Europe-Asia Studies, 70(5), pp. 685–691. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2018.1480924.
• Omelicheva, M.Y. (2016) ‘Critical geopolitics on Russian foreign policy: Uncovering the imagery of Moscow’s international relations’, International Politics, 53(6), pp. 708–726. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-016-0009-5.
• Pravda, A. (1994) ‘The Politics of Foreign Policy’, in S. White, A. Pravda, and Z. Gitelman (eds) Developments in Russian and Post-Soviet Politics. London: Macmillan Education UK, pp. 208–233. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23461-5_9.
• Sergunin, A. (2008) ‘Russian Foreign-Policy Decision Making on Europe’, in T. Hopf (ed.) Russia’s European Choice. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 59–93. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230612587_4.
• Sergunin, A. and Konyshev, V. (2019) ‘Forging Russia’s Arctic strategy: actors and decision-making’, The Polar Journal, 9(1), pp. 75–93. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/2154896X.2019.1618549.
• Simons, G. (2018) ‘The Role of Russian NGOs in New Public Diplomacy’, Journal of Political Marketing, 17(2), pp. 137–160. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2018.1447755.
• Varfolomeev, A.A. et al. (2020) ‘Russian System of Foreign Policy Expertise’, MGIMO Review of International Relations, 13(5), pp. 266–292. Available at: https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2020-5-74-266-292.
• Ziegler, C.E. (2012) ‘Conceptualizing sovereignty in Russian foreign policy: Realist and constructivist perspectives’, International Politics, 49(4), pp. 400–417. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2012.7.

Lecture 10: Foreign Policy Instruments

Core Required Reading

Tsygankov, A.P. (ed.) (2018) Routledge handbook of Russian foreign policy. London; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

• Diplomacy
• Natural gas
• Intelligence
• Military
• Cyber power
• Media and public diplomacy
• The Russian Orthodox Church

Recommended Reading

• Aalto, P. et al. (2017) ‘Russian nuclear energy diplomacy in Finland and Hungary’, Eurasian Geography and Economics, 58(4), pp. 386–417. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2017.1396905.
• Bogumił, Z., Moran, D. and Harrowell, E. (2015) ‘Sacred or Secular? “Memorial”, the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Contested Commemoration of Soviet Repressions’, Europe-Asia Studies, 67(9), pp. 1416–1444. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2015.1085962.
• Bohlen, A. (1966) ‘Changes in Russian Diplomacy under Peter the Great’, Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique, 7(3), pp. 341–358. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20169414.
• Curanović, A. (2019) ‘Russia’s Mission in the World: The Perspective of the Russian Orthodox Church’, Problems of Post-Communism, 66(4), pp. 253–267. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2018.1530940.
• German, T. (2009) ‘David and Goliath: Georgia and Russia’s Coercive Diplomacy’, Defence Studies, 9(2), pp. 224–241. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14702430902921452.
• Gibson, J.L. and Howard, M.M. (2007) ‘Russian Anti-Semitism and the Scapegoating of Jews’, British Journal of Political Science, 37(2), pp. 193–223. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123407000105.
• Gioe, D.V. (2018) ‘Cyber operations and useful fools: the approach of Russian hybrid intelligence’, Intelligence and National Security, 33(7), pp. 954–973. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2018.1479345.
• Gioe, D.V., Goodman, M.S. and Frey, D.S. (2019) ‘Unforgiven: Russian intelligence vengeance as political theater and strategic messaging’, Intelligence and National Security, 34(4), pp. 561–575. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2019.1573537.
• Griffiths, D.M. (1969) ‘Nikita Panin, Russian Diplomacy, and the American Revolution’, Slavic Review, 28(1), pp. 1–24. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2493035.
• Grincheva, N. (2019) ‘Beyond State versus Non-state Dichotomy: The State Hermitage Museum as a Russian Diplomacy “Hybrid”’, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 14(3), pp. 225–249. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1163/1871191X-14401025.
• Hansel, M. (2018) ‘Cyber-attacks and psychological IR perspectives: explaining misperceptions and escalation risks’, Journal of International Relations and Development, 21(3), pp. 523–551. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-016-0075-8.
• Hosaka, S. (2022) ‘Repeating History: Soviet Offensive Counterintelligence Active Measures’, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 35(3), pp. 429–458. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2020.1822100.
• Ivanov, V.I. (1999) ‘Prospects for Russia’s energy diplomacy in Northeast Asia’, Global Economic Review, 28(2), pp. 96–113. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/12265089908449762.
• Jensen, B., Valeriano, B. and Maness, R. (2019) ‘Fancy bears and digital trolls: Cyber strategy with a Russian twist’, Journal of Strategic Studies, 42(2), pp. 212–234. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2018.1559152.
• Krasnyak, O. (2020) ‘Foreign ministry’s spokesperson in public diplomacy: a case of Russia’, Russian Journal of Communication, 12(2), pp. 155–170. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/19409419.2020.1780630.
• Löwenhardt, J. (2004) ‘The OSCE, Moldova and Russian diplomacy in 2003’, Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 20(4), pp. 103–112. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1352327042000306075.
• McCombie, S., Uhlmann, A.J. and Morrison, S. (2020) ‘The US 2016 presidential election & Russia’s troll farms’, Intelligence and National Security, 35(1), pp. 95–114. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2019.1673940.
• Murphy, W.T. (2022) ‘Soviet Espionage in France during the Cold War: An Overview’, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, pp. 1–26. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2022.2077634.
• Neethling, T. (2020) ‘Assessing Russia’s New Interaction with Africa: Energy Diplomacy, Arms Exports and Mineral Resource Markets’, Strategic Review for Southern Africa, 42(2). Available at: https://doi.org/10.35293/srsa.v42i2.72.
• Rousselet, K. (2015) ‘The Church in the Service of the Fatherland’, Europe-Asia Studies, 67(1), pp. 49–67. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2014.989000.
• Ryan, J. (2013) ‘Cleansing NEP Russia: State Violence Against the Russian Orthodox Church in 1922’, Europe-Asia Studies, 65(9), pp. 1807–1826. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2013.842364.
• Schmitt, O. (2020) ‘How to challenge an international order: Russian diplomatic practices in multilateral security organisations’, European Journal of International Relations, 26(3), pp. 922–946. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066119886024.
• Shestopalets, D. (2019) ‘The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, The State and The Russian-Ukrainian Crisis, 2014–2018’, Politics, Religion & Ideology, 20(1), pp. 42–63. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2018.1554482.
• Shpiro, S. (2015) ‘Soviet Espionage in Israel, 1973–1991’, Intelligence and National Security, 30(4), pp. 486–507. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2014.969588.
• Simons, G. (2014) ‘Russian public diplomacy in the 21st century: Structure, means and message’, Public Relations Review, 40(3), pp. 440–449. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.03.002.
• Thornton, R. and Miron, M. (2020) ‘Towards the “Third Revolution in Military Affairs”: The Russian Military’s Use of AI-Enabled Cyber Warfare’, The RUSI Journal, 165(3), pp. 12–21. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2020.1765514.
• Tsvetkova, N. (2020) ‘Russian Digital Diplomacy: A Rising Cyber Soft Power?’, in A.A. Velikaya and G. Simons (eds) Russia’s Public Diplomacy. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 103–117. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12874-6_6.
• Vatansever, A. (2017) ‘Is Russia building too many pipelines? Explaining Russia’s oil and gas export strategy’, Energy Policy, 108, pp. 1–11. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.05.038.
• Wilson Rowe, E. and Blakkisrud, H. (2014) ‘A New Kind of Arctic Power? Russia’s Policy Discourses and Diplomatic Practices in the Circumpolar North’, Geopolitics, 19(1), pp. 66–85. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2013.789863.
• Xu, B. and Reisinger, W.M. (2019) ‘Russia’s energy diplomacy with China: personalism and institutionalism in its policy-making process’, The Pacific Review, 32(1), pp. 1–19. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2018.1428675.
• Xuanli Liao, J. (2021) ‘China’s energy diplomacy towards Central Asia and the implications on its “belt and road initiative”’, The Pacific Review, 34(3), pp. 490–522. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2019.1705882.
• Zonova, T. (2007) ‘Diplomatic Cultures: Comparing Russia and the West in Terms of a “Modern Model of Diplomacy”’, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 2(1), pp. 1–23. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1163/187119007X180458.

Lecture 11: Foreign Policy Vectors

Core Required Reading

Tsygankov, A.P. (ed.) (2018) Routledge handbook of Russian foreign policy. London; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

• The United States
• Asia-Pacific and China
• The European Union
• Central and Eastern Europe
• The Middle East
• The Caucasus
• Central Asia
• The Arctic

Recommended Reading

• Allison, R. (2004) ‘Regionalism, Regional Structures and Security Management in Central Asia’, International Affairs, 80(3), pp. 463–483. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2004.00393.x.
• Allison, R. (2004) ‘Strategic Reassertion in Russia’s Central Asia Policy’, International Affairs, 80(2), pp. 277–293. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2004.00383.x.
• Baran, Z. (2002) ‘The Caucasus: Ten years after independence’, The Washington Quarterly, 25(1), pp. 221–234. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1162/016366002753358438.
• Ben-Porat, G. et al. (eds) (2022) Routledge handbook on contemporary Israel. London; New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
• Bohr, A. (2004) ‘Regionalism in Central Asia: New Geopolitics, Old Regional Order’, International Affairs, 80(3), pp. 485–502. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2004.00394.x.
• Bolt, P.J. (2014) ‘Sino-Russian Relations in a Changing World Order’, Strategic Studies Quarterly, 8(4), pp. 47–69. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26270816.
• Crosston, M. (2015) ‘NEMESIS: Keeping Russia an Enemy through Cold War Pathologies’, Comparative Politics Russia, 6(3(20)), pp. 21–33. Available at: https://doi.org/10.18611/2221-3279-2015-6-3(20)-21-33.
• Dannreuther, R. (1999) ‘Escaping the enlargement trap in NATO-Russian relations’, Survival, 41(4), pp. 145–164. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/713869437.
• Dannreuther, R. (2012) ‘Russia and the Middle East: A Cold War Paradigm?’, Europe-Asia Studies, 64(3), pp. 543–560. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2012.661922.
• David, M. and Romanova, T. (2015) ‘Modernisation in EU–Russian Relations: Past, Present, and Future’, European Politics and Society, 16(1), pp. 1–10. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/15705854.2014.965895.
• De Waal, T. (2012) ‘A Broken Region: The Persistent Failure of Integration Projects in the South Caucasus’, Europe-Asia Studies, 64(9), pp. 1709–1723. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2012.718416.
• DeBardeleben, J. (2012) ‘Applying constructivism to understanding EU–Russian relations’, International Politics, 49(4), pp. 418–433. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2012.8.
• Freedman, R.O. (1995) ‘Israeli-Russian Relations since the Collapse of the Soviet Union’, Middle East Journal, 49(2), pp. 233–247. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4328802.
• Freedman, R.O. (2010) ‘Russia, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Putin Years’, Middle East Policy, 17(3), pp. 51–63. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4967.2010.00450.x.
• Fumagalli, M. (2007) ‘Alignments and Realignments in Central Asia: The Rationale and Implications of Uzbekistan’s Rapprochement with Russia’, International Political Science Review, 28(3), pp. 253–271. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512107077098.
• Gamsa, M. (2012) ‘The Cultural and the Social in Chinese–Russian Relations’, Cultural and Social History, 9(3), pp. 391–405. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2752/147800412X13347542916666.
• German, T. (2012) ‘The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia: Security Issues in the Caucasus’, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 32(2), pp. 216–229. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2012.694666.
• Graham, T. (2019) ‘U.S.-Russian relations in a new era’, США ܀ Канада: Экономика, политика, культура, (1), pp. 76–89. Available at: https://doi.org/10.31857/S032120680003607-1.
• Haukkala, H. (2015) ‘From Cooperative to Contested Europe? The Conflict in Ukraine as a Culmination of a Long-Term Crisis in EU–Russia Relations’, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 23(1), pp. 25–40. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2014.1001822.
• Henze, P.B. (1996) ‘Russia and the Caucasus’, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 19(4), pp. 389–402. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10576109608436017.
• Ismailov, E. and Papava, V. (2008) ‘A new concept for the Caucasus’, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 8(3), pp. 283–298. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14683850802338601.
• Ismayil, E. and Yilmaz, S. (2022) ‘Strategic alignments and balancing of threats: military and political alliances in the South Caucasus (1991–2021)’, Central Asian Survey, 41(3), pp. 533–552. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2021.2000940.
• Issaev, L. (2021) ‘Russia and the New Middle East’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 23(3), pp. 423–442. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2021.1888245.
• Kaczmarski, M. (2017) ‘Two Ways of Influence-building: The Eurasian Economic Union and the One Belt, One Road Initiative’, Europe-Asia Studies, 69(7), pp. 1027–1046. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2017.1373270.
• Kanet, R.E. (2011) ‘From the “New World Order” to “Resetting Relations”: Two Decades of US-Russian Relations’, in R.E. Kanet (ed.) Russian Foreign Policy in the 21st Century. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 204–227. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230293168_11.
• Khanin, V. (Zeev) (2013) The Social Aspect of Israeli-Russian Relations. Institute for National Security Studies, pp. 65–78. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep08970.12 (Accessed: 1 December 2022).
• Kramer, D.J. (2010) ‘Resetting U.S.–Russian Relations: It Takes Two’, The Washington Quarterly, 33(1), pp. 61–79. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01636600903418694.
• Larrabee, F.S. (2010) ‘RUSSIA, UKRAINE, AND CENTRAL EUROPE: THE RETURN OF GEOPOLITICS’, Journal of International Affairs, 63(2), pp. 33–52. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24384333.
• Larson, D.W. and Shevchenko, A. (2010) ‘Status Seekers: Chinese and Russian Responses to U.S. Primacy’, International Security, 34(4), pp. 63–95. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1162/isec.2010.34.4.63.
• Libman, A. and Obydenkova, A.V. (2018) ‘Regional international organizations as a strategy of autocracy: the Eurasian Economic Union and Russian foreign policy’, International Affairs, 94(5), pp. 1037–1058. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiy147.
• Livne, Y. (2013) A Look at Israeli-Russian Relations. Institute for National Security Studies, pp. 57–64. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep08970.11 (Accessed: 1 December 2022).
• Lo, B. (2004) ‘The Long Sunset of Strategic Partnership: Russia’s Evolving China Policy’, International Affairs, 80(2), pp. 295–309. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2004.00384.x.
• Markedonov, S.M. and Suchkov, M.A. (2020) ‘Russia and the United States in the Caucasus: cooperation and competition’, Caucasus Survey, 8(2), pp. 179–195. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/23761199.2020.1732101.
• Medvedev, S. (2008) ‘The Stalemate in EU-Russia Relations’, in T. Hopf (ed.) Russia’s European Choice. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 215–232. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230612587_9.
• Menon, R. (2003) ‘The New Great Game in Central Asia’, Survival, 45(2), pp. 187–204. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/survival/45.2.187.
• Menon, R. (2009) ‘The Limits of Chinese–Russian Partnership’, Survival, 51(3), pp. 99–130. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00396330903011529.
• Rezvani, B. (2020) ‘Russian foreign policy and geopolitics in the Post-Soviet space and the Middle East: Tajikistan, Georgia, Ukraine and Syria’, Middle Eastern Studies, 56(6), pp. 878–899. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2020.1775590.
• Romanova, T. (2016) ‘Is Russian Energy Policy towards the EU Only about Geopolitics? The Case of the Third Liberalisation Package’, Geopolitics, 21(4), pp. 857–879. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2016.1155049.
• Rozman, G. (1998) ‘Sino-Russian Relations in the 1990s: A Balance Sheet’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 14(2), pp. 93–113. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.1998.10641448.
• Rywkin, M. (2015) ‘Russia: An Adventure to Restore the Empire’, American Foreign Policy Interests, 37(2), pp. 95–99. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10803920.2015.1038923.
• Sadiyev Saleh, S. et al. (2021) ‘South caucasus and a “New Great Game”: the communication of competition in securitised international relations’, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 29(2), pp. 282–294. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2020.1826914.
• Sestanovich, S. (2008) ‘What Has Moscow Done? Rebuilding U.S.-Russian Relations’, Foreign Affairs, 87(6), pp. 12–28. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20699369.
• Stent, A. (2012) ‘US–Russia Relations in the Second Obama Administration’, Survival, 54(6), pp. 123–138. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2012.749635.
• Stepanova, E. (2018) ‘Russia and Conflicts in the Middle East: Regionalisation and Implications for the West’, The International Spectator, 53(4), pp. 35–57. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03932729.2018.1507135.
• Sushentsov, A.A. and Wohlforth, W.C. (2020) ‘The tragedy of US–Russian relations: NATO centrality and the revisionists’ spiral’, International Politics, 57(3), pp. 427–450. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-020-00229-5.
• Trenin, D. (2009) ‘Russia in the Caucasus: Reversing the Tide’, The Brown Journal of World Affairs, 15(2), pp. 143–155. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24590848.

Required Students’ Skills

Read the course materials carefully and focus on the core and recommended readings that will greatly increase your level of knowledge.

Learn how to use search engines for academic articles, primarily Web of Science, JSTOR, SAGE Journals, and Google Scholar.

To pass an essay assignment with flying colours, you must master the Harvard citation style. Also, it is highly recommended to read the following publication about research methods and design to improve your essay score:

• Lamont, C. and Boduszynski, M. (2020) Research methods in politics and international relations. Thousand Oaks: SAGE.

Throughout the course, students are also expected to familiarise themselves with leading academic journals to locate the latest articles, thereby connecting with the international relations academic community.