PLIR 3760. Russia in World Affairs

Fall 2014. Mr. Lynch

Tuesdays/Thursdays, 9:30-10:45 a.m., Minor Hall 125

Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m. in S397 Gibson (South Lawn)

 

This lecture course offers an interpretation of Russia’s position in world politics. The course treats the subject from historical, conceptual, and contemporary-topical perspectives. Work will be evaluated on the basis of a take-home essay, due September 30 (25%), an analytical film review, due October 21 (25%), and a final take-home essay, due Friday, December 13 at noon (50%).

 

Student work will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria: degree of command of lectures and readings; degree of incisiveness and coherence of analysis; soundness and originality of judgment; as well as facility of expression in written English.

 

Please keep in mind that a grade of “B” denotes “good” work.

 

Books ordered for purchase at the University Bookstore:

Marshall Poe, The Russian Moment in World History

Vladislav Zubok, Failed Empire

Andrei Tsygankov, Russia’s Foreign Policy

Dmitri Trenin, Post-Imperium

James Sherr, Hard Diplomacy, Soft Coercion

Angela Stent, The Limits of Partnership

 

All other readings are available on the course Collab site.

 

 

Schedule of Classes:

 

8/26:    Introduction to the Class.

Tsygankov, xxv-xxviii, 1-31; Poe, 1-37.

 

8/28:    Geographical Influences on Russian Political and International Development

Poe, 38-85; Hill, “The Siberian Curse” (Collab, hereafter “C”); Lynch, “How Russia is—Not—Ruled” (C).

 

9/2:      The “Russian Dilemma” at Home and Abroad

Wesson, “The Russian Dilemma” (C); Vernadsky, “The Mongol Impact on Russia” (C); Rieber, “How Persistent are the Persistent Factors?” (C).

 

9/4:      Tsarist Legacies in Russia’s International Relations: to the Crimean War (1550-1856)

Hosking, “Ivan IV & the Rise of Muscovy” (C); Fuller, “Peter the Great” (C); Bolkhovitinov, “Rejection of Alliance with England” (C).

 

9/9:      Tsarist Legacies in Russia’s International Relations: from the Crimean War to WWI (1856-1917)

Holborn, “Russia and the European Political System (C); Von Laue, “Problems of Modernization” (C).

 

9/11:    The Soviet Revolution in Russian Foreign Policy (1917-1921)

Jacobson, “The Ideological & Political Foundations of Soviet Foreign Policy” (C); Carr, “The Soviet Impact on the Western World (C).

 

9/16:    The “Socialization” of Soviet Foreign Policy (1921-1933): Toward an “Imperial-Revolutionary” Paradigm

Ulam, “Transition: 1921-1933” (C); Browder, “1917-1933” (C); Sherr, chapters 1-2.

 

9/18:    The Collapse of Security & the Onset of WWII (1931-1941)

Conquest, “Assault on the Army” (C); Gaddis, “Cold War Readings” [Recognition and Disillusionment, 1933-1941], pp. 119-145 (C).

 

9/23:    The Diplomacy of the Great War for the Fatherland (1941-1945)

Zubok: 1-28; Gaddis, “Cold War Readings,” pp. 147-174 (C).

Take-home essay to be assigned.

 

9/25:    Origins of the Cold War (1944-1950)

Zubok, 29-93; Holloway, “Stalin and the Bomb” (C); Leffler, “Preponderance of Power” (C).

 

9/30:    Stalin’s Legacy for Soviet Foreign Policy (1950-1956): Implications of the “Imperial-Revolutionary” Paradigm

Zubok, 94-122; Taubman, “Ch. 11: Khrushchev: Man & Era [From the Secret Speech to the Hungarian Revolution]” (C).

Take-home essay due in class.

 

10/2:    Nikita Khrushchev & the Cuban Missile Crisis (1953-1964)

Zubok, 123-191; Taubman, “Khrushchev: Man & Era [The Cuban Cure-All, 1962]” (C).

 

10/7:      The Problem of Détente in Soviet Foreign Policy (1970-1979)

Zubok, 192-226; Gaddis, “Russia, the Soviet Union & the United States [From Confrontation to Negotiation],” pp. 253-294 (C); Garthoff, “Détente and Confrontation” (C).

 

10/9:      Why Gorbachev? The Crisis of the “Imperial-Revolutionary” Paradigm

Zubok, 227-264 (1975-1985); Haslam, “The Impact of Vietnam (C)

 

10/14: Reading Period: No Class.

 

10/16: Showing of Film, “Messengers from Moscow, part II: The East is Red.”

Students will write a take-home analytical essay on the film, to be due in class on 10/21.

 

10/21: Gorbachev’s New Political Thinking

Zubok, 265-302; Tsygankov, 33-56; Lynch, “Soviet Study of International Relations” (C)

Film essay due in class.

 

10/23:  The Revolution in Soviet Foreign Policy (1985-1991)

Zubok, 303-344; Tsygankov, 33-56; Poe, 86-104; Lynch, “Soviet Study of International Relations” (C).

 

10/28:  Explaining the End of the Cold War (1987-1991): Domestic Unit Trumps International System?

Haas, “United States and the End of the Cold War (C); Goldgeier and McFaul, “Power and Purpose,” pp. 18-40 (C).

 

10/30:  Russia’s Liberal Moment (1992-1999): International System Trumps Domestic Unit?

Tsygankov, 57-132; Stent, 1-48; Stiglitz, “Who Lost Russia?” (C).

 

11/4:    NATO Expansion and Russian Foreign Policy (1992-1999)

Trenin, 1-82; Lynch, “Realism of Russia’s Foreign Policy” (C); Zimmerman, “Russian People and Foreign Policy” (C).

 

11/6:      Domestic Foundations of Putin’s Foreign Policy (1999-2014)

Stent, 177-210; Trenin, 144-173.

 

11/12:    The Impact of September 11, 2001 on Russian-American Relations (2000-2003)

Tsygankov, 133-174; Stent, 49-96; Ambrosio, “Russo-American Dispute Over Iraq” (C).

 

11/11:    Toward War with Georgia (2004-2008)

Tsygankov, 175-206; Trenin, 83-143; Ambrosio, “Insulating Russia from a Color Revolution” (C);

 

11/13: Russia and Europe Under Putin (1999-2014)

Stent, “Reluctant Europeans” (C); Trenin, “Russia Leaves the West” (C).

 

11/21: Russia and China Under Putin (1999-2014)

Mankoff, 177-218 (C).

Optional extra-credit take-home essay to be assigned; due in class on 11/25.

 

11/25:  “Soft Power” and Russian Foreign Policy

Sherr, chapters 3-6; Trenin, 174-242; Tsygankov, 207-257.

Extra-credit essay due in class.

 

11/27: Thanksgiving: no class.

 

12/2:  The Obama “Reset” in American-Russian Relations

Stent, 211-274; Treisman and Shleifer, “Why Russia Says No” (C); Kuchins, “The Obama Administration’s Reset Button for Russia” (C).

 

12/4: Ukraine and Russian Foreign Policy.

Robert Legvold, “Managing the New Cold War,” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2014, at: www.foreignaffairs.com/issues/2014/93/4; Alexander Lukin, “What the Kremlin is Thinking,” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2014, at: www.foreignaffais.com/issues/2014/94/4.

Final take-home essay to be assigned; due at 397 Gibson on Friday, December 12 at noon.