Russian Foreign Policy – Undergraduate 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 easy questions, but the structure and content of the course help students to answer them. In addition, it provides a thorough introduction with numerous 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 Russia’s 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

Donaldson, R.H. and Nadkarni, V. (2019) The foreign policy of Russia: changing systems, enduring interests. Sixth edition. New York: Routledge.

Supportive texts

  • 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.
  • Sergunin, A.A. (2016) Explaining Russian foreign policy behavior: theory and practice. Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag (Soviet and post-soviet politics and society, vol. 147).
  • 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, essential and 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 reflect the advanced practice of worldwide recognised departments of politics and international relations.

Course Content

Lecture 1: Variability, Leadership, the System, and Diplomacy

Core Required Reading

Donaldson, R.H. and Nadkarni, V. (2019) The foreign policy of Russia: changing systems, enduring interests. Sixth edition. New York: Routledge.

  • Power, Polarity, and Personality

Essential Required Reading

Recommended Reading

  • Lewis, D.G. (2018) ‘Geopolitical Imaginaries in Russian Foreign Policy: The Evolution of “Greater Eurasia”’, Europe-Asia Studies, 70(10), pp. 1612–1637. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2018.1515348.
  • Tsygankov, A.P. (2008) ‘Self and Other in International Relations Theory: Learning from Russian Civilizational Debates 1’, International Studies Review, 10(4), pp. 762–775. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2486.2008.00831.x.
  • 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 2: Legacy of the Tsars

Core Required Reading

Donaldson, R.H. and Nadkarni, V. (2019) The foreign policy of Russia: changing systems, enduring interests. Sixth edition. New York: Routledge.

  • The Tsarist Roots of Russia’s Foreign Policy

Essential Required Reading

  • 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.
  • Goldsmith, R.W. (1961) ‘The Economic Growth of Tsarist Russia 1860-1913’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 9(3), pp. 441–475. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1086/449917.
  • Nafziger, S. (2011) ‘Did Ivan’s vote matter? The political economy of local democracy in Tsarist Russia’, European Review of Economic History, 15(3), pp. 393–441. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1361491611000074.

Recommended Reading

  • Brower, D.R. et al. (1970) ‘Reformers and Rebels: Education in Tsarist Russia’, History of Education Quarterly, 10(1), p. 127. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/367055.
  • Edmondson, L. (2001) ‘Women’s Rights, Gender and Citizenship in Tsarist Russia, 1860–1920: the Question of Difference’, in P. Grimshaw, K. Holmes, and M. Lake (eds) Women’s Rights and Human Rights. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 153–167. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780333977644_10.
  • orbach, A. (1990) ‘THE JEWISH PEOPLE’S GROUP AND JEWISH POLITICS IN TSARIST RUSSIA, 1906–1914’, Modern Judaism, 10(1), pp. 1–15. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/mj/10.1.1.

Lecture 3: From Marxism-Leninism to Cold War

Core Required Reading

Donaldson, R.H. and Nadkarni, V. (2019) The foreign policy of Russia: changing systems, enduring interests. Sixth edition. New York: Routledge.

  • Soviet Foreign Policy: From Revolution to Cold War

Essential Required Reading

Recommended Reading

  • Filitov, A.M. (1996) ‘Problems of Post-War Construction in Soviet Foreign Policy Conceptions during World War II’, in F. Gori and S. Pons (eds) The Soviet Union and Europe in the Cold War, 1943–53. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 3–22. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25106-3_1.
  • Triska, J.F. (1958) ‘A Model for Study of Soviet Foreign Policy’, American Political Science Review, 52(1), pp. 64–83. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1953013.
  • ZIMMERMAN, W. (1970) ‘Elite Perspectives and the Explanation of Soviet Foreign Policy’, Journal of International Affairs, 24(1), pp. 84–98. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24356666.

Lecture 4: Foreign Policy During the Cold War

Core Required Reading

Donaldson, R.H. and Nadkarni, V. (2019) The foreign policy of Russia: changing systems, enduring interests. Sixth edition. New York: Routledge.

  • Soviet Foreign Policy: The Cold War

Essential Required Reading

Recommended Reading

  • Bowker, M. (2002) ‘Brezhnev and Superpower Relations’, in E. Bacon and M. Sandle (eds) Brezhnev Reconsidered. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 90–109. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230501089_5.
  • Craig, C. and Radchenko, S. (2018) ‘MAD, not Marx: Khrushchev and the nuclear revolution’, Journal of Strategic Studies, 41(1–2), pp. 208–233. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2017.1330683.
  • Roh, K.D. (2019) ‘Different Versions of Romance: Recent Studies on Sino-Russian Relations’, Journal of Chinese Political Science, 24(3), pp. 533–541. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11366-018-09597-5.

Lecture 5: Domestic Aspects of Russian Foreign Policy

Core Required Reading

Donaldson, R.H. and Nadkarni, V. (2019) The foreign policy of Russia: changing systems, enduring interests. Sixth edition. New York: Routledge.

  • Domestic Factors in the Making of Russia’s Foreign Policy

Essential Required Reading

  • 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.
  • Marantz, P. (1997) ‘Russian Foreign Policy During Yeltsin’s Second Term’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 30(4), pp. 345–351. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-067X(97)00019-6.
  • 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.

Recommended Reading

  • 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.
  • Shearman, P. (2001) ‘The sources of Russian conduct: understanding Russian foreign policy’, Review of International Studies, 27(2), pp. 249–263. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210500002497.
  • Timmermann, H. (1992) ‘Russian foreign policy under Yeltsin: Priority for integration into the “community of civilized states”’, Journal of Communist Studies, 8(4), pp. 163–185. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13523279208415173.

Lecture 6: Post-Soviet Space

Core Required Reading

Donaldson, R.H. and Nadkarni, V. (2019) The foreign policy of Russia: changing systems, enduring interests. Sixth edition. New York: Routledge.

  • Russia and the States of the Former Soviet Union

Essential Required Reading

  • Kubicek, P. (2009) ‘The Commonwealth of Independent States: an example of failed regionalism?’, Review of International Studies, 35(S1), pp. 237–256. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S026021050900850X.
  • Mandel, R. (2012) ‘Introduction: Transition to Where? Developing Post-Soviet Space’, Slavic Review, 71(2), pp. 223–233. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0037677900013590.
  • Petrovich-Belkin, O., Bokeriya, S. and Yeryomin, A. (2019) ‘The Problem of Russia’s Declining Influence in the Former Soviet Union: Why Are the CIS Countries Drifting Toward Multilateralism?’, International Organisations Research Journal, 14(1), pp. 94–112. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17323/1996-7845-2019-01-06.

Recommended Reading

  • Czerewacz-Filipowicz, K. and Konopelko, A. (2017) Regional Integration Processes in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47563-9.
  • Kolstø, P. (1993) ‘The New Russian Diaspora: Minority Protection in the Soviet Successor States’, Journal of Peace Research, 30(2), pp. 197–217. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343393030002006.
  • Petrovich-Belkin, O.K., Eremin, A.A. and Bokeriya, S.A. (2019) ‘The decline of Russia’s influence in the post-Soviet region and the reasons behind it’. Available at: https://doi.org/10.24411/2221-3279-2019-10032.

Lecture 7: The West, NATO, EU, and Security Concerns

Core Required Reading

Donaldson, R.H. and Nadkarni, V. (2019) The foreign policy of Russia: changing systems, enduring interests. Sixth edition. New York: Routledge.

  • Russia Faces West: Aspirations and Obstacles

Essential Required Reading

  • Baranovsky, V. (2000) ‘Russia: A Part of Europe or Apart from Europe?’, International Affairs, 76(3), pp. 443–458. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.00145.
  • 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.
  • Kramer, M. (2009) ‘The Myth of a No-NATO-Enlargement Pledge to Russia’, The Washington Quarterly, 32(2), pp. 39–61. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01636600902773248.

Recommended Reading

  • Averre, D. (2009) ‘Competing Rationalities: Russia, the EU and the “Shared Neighbourhood”’, Europe-Asia Studies, 61(10), pp. 1689–1713. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668130903278918.
  • Pouliot, V. (2007) ‘Pacification Without Collective Identification: Russia and the Transatlantic Security Community in the Post-Cold War Era’, Journal of Peace Research, 44(5), pp. 605–622. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343307080858.
  • Sarotte, M.E. (2010) ‘Perpetuating U.S. Preeminence: The 1990 Deals to “Bribe the Soviets Out” and Move NATO In’, International Security, 35(1), pp. 110–137. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00005.

Lecture 8: The Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Africa

Core Required Reading

Donaldson, R.H. and Nadkarni, V. (2019) The foreign policy of Russia: changing systems, enduring interests. Sixth edition. New York: Routledge.

  • Russia and the “Non-West”

Essential Required Reading

Recommended Reading

  • Gerőcs, T. (2019) ‘The transformation of African–Russian economic relations in the multipolar world-system’, Review of African Political Economy, 46(160), pp. 317–335. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03056244.2019.1635442.
  • Kaczmarski, M. (2017) ‘Non-western visions of regionalism: China’s New Silk Road and Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union’, International Affairs, 93(6), pp. 1357–1376. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iix182.
  • 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.

Lecture 9: Putin

Core Required Reading

Donaldson, R.H. and Nadkarni, V. (2019) The foreign policy of Russia: changing systems, enduring interests. Sixth edition. New York: Routledge.

  • Putin’s Quest for Partnership in a Multipolar World

Essential Required Reading

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Tsygankov, A. (2015) ‘Vladimir Putin’s last stand: the sources of Russia’s Ukraine policy’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 31(4), pp. 279–303. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2015.1005903.

Recommended Reading

  • 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.
  • Neumann, I.B. and Pouliot, V. (2011) ‘Untimely Russia: Hysteresis in Russian-Western Relations over the Past Millennium’, Security Studies, 20(1), pp. 105–137. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09636412.2011.549021.
  • Podvig, P. (2018) ‘Russia’s Current Nuclear Modernization and Arms Control’, Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament, 1(2), pp. 256–267. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/25751654.2018.1526629.

Lecture 10: Putin and USA

Core Required Reading

Donaldson, R.H. and Nadkarni, V. (2019) The foreign policy of Russia: changing systems, enduring interests. Sixth edition. New York: Routledge.

  • Russia and the United States: A New Cold War?
  • Epilogue

Essential Required Reading

  • Chollet, D. (2018) ‘Obama and Putin’, Diplomatic History, 42(4), pp. 579–582. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhy054.
  • Gavra, D. and Slutskiy, P. (2021) ‘Trump, Mueller Investigation, and Alleged Russian Election Meddling: Russian Media Coverage in 2017-2019’, American Behavioral Scientist, 65(3), pp. 482–511. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764220978455.
  • Petrov, N., Lipman, M. and Hale, H.E. (2014) ‘Three dilemmas of hybrid regime governance: Russia from Putin to Putin’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 30(1), pp. 1–26. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2013.825140.

Recommended Reading

  • Baysha, O. (2018) ‘Synecdoche that kills: How Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin constructed different Ukraines for different ends’, International Communication Gazette, 80(3), pp. 230–249. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048517721578.
  • Economou, E.M.L. and Kyriazis, N.A. (2022) ‘Spillovers Between Russia’s and Turkey’s Geopolitical Risk During the 2000–2021 Putin Administration’, Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy, 28(1), pp. 29–50. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/peps-2021-0021.
  • Shekhovtsov, A. (2022) ‘What Happens When Soft Power Fails’, Nationalities Papers, 50(6), pp. 1252–1254. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2021.111.

Lecture 11: Ukraine 2022

Core Required Reading

  1. Kostyuk, N. and Brantly, A. (2022) ‘War in the borderland through cyberspace: Limits of defending Ukraine through interstate cooperation’, Contemporary Security Policy, 43(3), pp. 498–515. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2022.2093587.
  2. Salam, A. et al. (2022) ‘The Impact of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine on the Middle East’, Middle East Policy, 29(2), pp. 3–22. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/mepo.12633.
  3. Stoner, K. (2022) ‘The War in Ukraine: How Putin’s War in Ukraine Has Ruined Russia’, Journal of Democracy, 33(3), pp. 38–44. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2022.0038.

Essential Required Reading

Recommended Reading

  • Biedermann, R. (2022) ‘Exploring Sino-Russian-Nordics triangular relations: complex balancing along the Polar Silk Road’, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 30(4), pp. 623–639. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2021.1924640.
  • Mankoff, J. (2022) ‘The War in Ukraine and Eurasia’s New Imperial Moment’, The Washington Quarterly, 45(2), pp. 127–147. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/0163660X.2022.2090761.
  • Raynor, B. (2022) ‘The shadow of sanctions: reputational risk, financial reintegration, and the political economy of sanctions relief’, European Journal of International Relations, 28(3), pp. 696–721. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/13540661221100540.

Required Students’ Skills

Read the course materials carefully and focus on the core and essential required 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.

Scroll to Top