ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û

Russian foreign policy and relations with the West are at the centre of international concern. It is hard to overstate the significance of Russian military actions in the Middle East and North Africa or the post-Soviet space, not least due to the Russian government’s devastating war in Ukraine. Yet Moscow officials have articulated sharp criticism of West-led military interventions in Iraq, Libya and Syria. The issue of state sovereignty and intervention has been the source of dangerously escalating tensions between Russia and Western states for decades.

The module will explore why and when Russian policymakers consider military interventions necessary; how they are presented as legitimate and justifiable. It will investigate the widespread beliefs and ideas among the Russian political elite associated with intervention, state sovereignty and the role of the West.

Indicative questions addressed on the module are planned to include:

• What makes Russian officials resist Western interventions yet present Russia’s own military interventions as legitimate and justifiable?
• What are the widespread beliefs and ideas associated with intervention and state sovereignty among Moscow’s foreign policy elite?
• How do these beliefs inform Russia’s relations with the West and approaches to intervention? With what consequences for regional insecurity and violent conflicts?

This module will help you understand how researchers have addressed questions of this kind, the variety of answers provided and the ongoing, unresolved academic debates so that you can formulate your own answer to similar questions and generate new ones.

Indicative topics:

The module will cover the following cases and topics, which may be subject to variation depending on developments in academic research and the interests of the class:

• Russian military intervention in Georgia
• The Russian government’s war in Ukraine
• Russian involvement in the 2014 Ukraine crisis and the annexation of Crimea
• U.S. interventions in Iraq
• NATO’s military intervention in Libya
• Western intervention in Syria
• Russia-West relations in the post-Cold War period
• Theoretical debates on intervention and state sovereignty (e.g. realist, liberal, constructivist perspectives)

Teaching delivery

The module is taught by 10 lectures and 10 seminars.

You will be expected to:
• Read your required texts before attending the lectures.
• Participate actively in the seminars and bring questions for group discussion.

By the end of this module you will be able to:

• Develop comprehensive understanding of Russian foreign policy, approaches to state sovereignty and relations with the West
• Demonstrate critical thinking in evaluating the relative merits and limitations of contrasting scholarly arguments on Russia's policies in the post-Soviet space, the Middle East and its relations with the West
• Apply theoretical knowledge and concepts in the analysis of different cases of intra-state conflicts
• Develop and communicate logical arguments on Russian and Western involvement in regional conflicts