PLIR 3760. Russia in World Affairs

Fall 2015. Mr. Lynch

Tuesdays/Thursdays, 9:30-10:45 a.m., Macleod Hall 2004

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 four take-home (open-notes, open book) essays, each of which will account for 25% of your final grade. Please note the deadlines as stated in the syllabus.

 

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. The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev.

Andrei Tsygankov, Russia’s Foreign Policy. Change & Continuity in National Identity.

Angela Stent, The Limits of Partnership. U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twenty-first            Century.

Rajan Menon & Eugene Rumer, Conflict in Ukraine. The Unwinding of the Post-Cold        War Order.

 

All other readings are available on the course Collab site.

 

 

Schedule of Classes:

 

8/25:    Introduction to the Class.

Tsygankov, Russia’s Foreign Policy, xxv-xxviii, 1-31; Poe, The Russian Moment, chapters 1-3.

 

8/27:    Geographical Influences on Russian Political and International Development

Poe, chapters 4-6; Hill, “The Siberian Curse” (Collab, hereafter “C”); Lynch, “How Russia is—Not—Ruled” (C).

 

9/1:      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).

 

9/3:      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).

 

9/8:      Tsarist Legacies in Russia’s International Relations: from the Crimean War to WWI (1856-1917)

Poe, chapters 7-9; Holborn, “Russia and the European Political System (C); Von Laue, “Problems of Modernization” (C).

 

9/10:    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).

 

9/15:    The “Socialization” of Soviet Foreign Policy (1921-1933): Toward an “Imperial-Revolutionary” Paradigm

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

***The first assignment will be given out: it is due at my office (397 Gibson) by 5 pm, Friday, September 18. (25% of total grade.)

 

9/17:    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).

 

9/22:    The Diplomacy of the Great War for the Fatherland (1941-1945)

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

 

9/24:    Origins of the Cold War (1944-1950)

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

 

9/29:    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).

 

10/1:    Nikita Khrushchev & the Cuban Missile Crisis (1953-1964)

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

 

10/6: Reading Day: No Class.

 

10/8: Showing of Film, “Messengers from Moscow, part II: The East is Red.”

***Students will write a take-home analytical essay on the film (the specific assignment will be distributed), to be due at my office (397 Gibson) by Friday, October 16, 5 pm. (25% of total grade)

 

10/13:    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).

 

10/15:    Why Gorbachev? The Crisis of the “Imperial-Revolutionary” Paradigm

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

 

10/20: Gorbachev’s New Political Thinking

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

 

10/22:  The Revolution in Soviet Foreign Policy (1985-1991)

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

 

10/27:  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).

 

10/29:  Russia’s Liberal Moment (1992-1999): International System Trumps Domestic Unit?

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

***Take-home assignment will be distributed: due at my office (397 Gibson) by 5 p.m., Friday, November 6. (25% of total grade)

 

11/3:    NATO Expansion and Russian Foreign Policy (1992-1999)

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

 

11/5:      Domestic Foundations of Putin’s Foreign Policy (1999-2014)

Stent, 177-210.

 

11/10:    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).

 

11/12:    Toward War with Georgia (2004-2008)

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

 

11/17: Russia and Europe Under Putin (1999-2014)

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

 

 

 

11/19: Russia and China Under Putin (1999-2014)

Mankoff, “Rising China and Russia’s Asian Vector,” (C).

 

11/24:  “Soft Power” and Russian Foreign Policy: the “post-Soviet Space.”

Tsygankov, 207-257; Menon & Rumer, Conflict in Ukraine, chapter 1.

 

11/26: Thanksgiving: no class.

 

12/1:  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).

***Optional take-home extra-credit essay to be distributed: due at my office (397 Gibson) by 5 pm, Friday, December 4.

 

12/3: Ukraine and Russian Foreign Policy.

Menon and Rumer, chapters 2-4; Alexander Lukin, “What the Kremlin is Thinking,” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2014, at: www.foreignaffairs.com/issues/2014/94/4.

 

12/8: Ukraine and Russian Foreign Policy, Continued.

Menon and Rumer, chapter 5 & Conclusion; Robert Legvold, “Managing the New Cold War,” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2014, at: www.foreignaffairs.com/issues/2014/93/4; John Mearsheimer, “Why the Ukraine Crisis is the West’s Fault,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2014 (C). 

 

***Final take-home essay to be assigned; due at 397 Gibson by Friday, December 18 at 5 pm. (25% of total grade)