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Frozen conflicts in the Post-Post-Soviet Space - Developments, Challenges and Perspectives
Study Course Description
Course Description Statuss:Approved
Course Description Version:6.00
Study Course Accepted:02.02.2024 12:30:50
| Study Course Information | |||||||||
| Course Code: | PZK_173 | LQF level: | Level 7 | ||||||
| Credit Points: | 2.00 | ECTS: | 3.00 | ||||||
| Branch of Science: | Politics | Target Audience: | Political Science | ||||||
| Study Course Supervisor | |||||||||
| Course Supervisor: | Mārtiņš Vargulis | ||||||||
| Study Course Implementer | |||||||||
| Structural Unit: | Faculty of Social Sciences | ||||||||
| The Head of Structural Unit: | |||||||||
| Contacts: | Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szf rsu[pnkts]lv | ||||||||
| Study Course Planning | |||||||||
| Full-Time - Semester No.1 | |||||||||
| Lectures (count) | 6 | Lecture Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Lectures | 12 | ||||
| Classes (count) | 4 | Class Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Classes | 8 | ||||
| Total Contact Hours | 20 | ||||||||
| Part-Time - Semester No.1 | |||||||||
| Lectures (count) | 4 | Lecture Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Lectures | 8 | ||||
| Classes (count) | 2 | Class Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Classes | 4 | ||||
| Total Contact Hours | 12 | ||||||||
| Study course description | |||||||||
| Preliminary Knowledge: | Overall knowledge of the development of Russia's foreign and security policy, as well as the history, challenges and development of the post-post-Soviet space. It is important for students to have a general understanding of the events of the frozen conflict in the post-post-Soviet space and their significance in the wider context of international relations. | ||||||||
| Objective: | To provide an in-depth understanding of the development and dynamics of frozen conflicts in the post-post-Soviet space, Russia's interests in the context of these conflicts, as well as to promote the analysis of potential future conflicts. To enhance the capacity of comparative analysis by studying and understanding the linkages/ differences between a number of frozen conflicts in the post-post-Soviet space. To provide an in-depth insight of how Russia's position in the international arena and the role of external factors has influenced the development of the post-post-Soviet space. | ||||||||
| Topic Layout (Full-Time) | |||||||||
| No. | Topic | Type of Implementation | Number | Venue | |||||
| 1 | International actors in the post-post-Soviet space: historical developments, dynamics, as well as the role of Russia's internal factors | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 2 | The role of external factors in the implementation of Russia's activities in the post-post-Soviet space | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 3 | History of frozen conflicts in the post-post-Soviet space | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 4 | Transnistria: development, dynamics, Russia's position | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 5 | Abkhazia and South Ossetia: development, determined factors, dynamics of Russia-Georgia relations, the role of NATO | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 6 | Crimea: legitimacy of annexation, Ukraine's role in Russia's perception, influence of the international community's reaction | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 7 | Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: players, interests, meaning | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 8 | Chechnya as an “internal frozen conflict” of Russia | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 9 | The role and involvement of international organizations in resolving frozen conflicts in the post-post-Soviet space | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 10 | Frozen conflicts – if any, who's next? Differences, similarities, challenges | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 11 | Russia's positioning in the post-post-Soviet space. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 12 | The role of external factors in Russia's activities in the post-post-Soviet space. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports. | Classes | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 13 | Transnistria – military significance and political ambitions; the role of international organizations? Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 14 | Abkhazia and South Ossetia: the role of the EU, US, NATO in resolving the conflict. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 15 | Crimea – development, perspectives and the role of conflict in the context of Ukraine-NATO and Ukraine-EU integration. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 16 | Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: actors, interests, meaning. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 17 | International regulation and the role of organizations in resolving frozen conflicts: EU, OSCE, UN, NATO, etc. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.25 | auditorium | |||||
| 18 | Conflict as a guarantee of the legitimacy of the existing Russian regime: will there be a "next one"? Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.25 | auditorium | |||||
| 19 | The role of frozen conflicts in promoting Russia's military might. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.25 | auditorium | |||||
| 20 | The Baltic States – a chance to become the next "frozen conflict"? Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.25 | auditorium | |||||
| Topic Layout (Part-Time) | |||||||||
| No. | Topic | Type of Implementation | Number | Venue | |||||
| 1 | International actors in the post-post-Soviet space: historical developments, dynamics, as well as the role of Russia's internal factors | Lectures | 0.25 | auditorium | |||||
| 2 | The role of external factors in the implementation of Russia's activities in the post-post-Soviet space | Lectures | 0.25 | auditorium | |||||
| 3 | History of frozen conflicts in the post-post-Soviet space | Lectures | 0.25 | auditorium | |||||
| 4 | Transnistria: development, dynamics, Russia's position | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 5 | Abkhazia and South Ossetia: development, determined factors, dynamics of Russia-Georgia relations, the role of NATO | Lectures | 0.25 | auditorium | |||||
| 6 | Crimea: legitimacy of annexation, Ukraine's role in Russia's perception, influence of the international community's reaction | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 7 | Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: players, interests, meaning | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 8 | Chechnya as an “internal frozen conflict” of Russia | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 9 | The role and involvement of international organizations in resolving frozen conflicts in the post-post-Soviet space | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 10 | Frozen conflicts – if any, who's next? Differences, similarities, challenges | Lectures | 0.50 | auditorium | |||||
| 11 | Russia's positioning in the post-post-Soviet space. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.20 | auditorium | |||||
| 12 | The role of external factors in Russia's activities in the post-post-Soviet space. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports. | Classes | 0.20 | auditorium | |||||
| 13 | Transnistria – military significance and political ambitions; the role of international organizations? Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.20 | auditorium | |||||
| 14 | Abkhazia and South Ossetia: the role of the EU, US, NATO in resolving the conflict. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.20 | auditorium | |||||
| 15 | Crimea – development, perspectives and the role of conflict in the context of Ukraine-NATO and Ukraine-EU integration. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.20 | auditorium | |||||
| 16 | Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: actors, interests, meaning. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.20 | ||||||
| 17 | International regulation and the role of organizations in resolving frozen conflicts: EU, OSCE, UN, NATO, etc. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.20 | auditorium | |||||
| 18 | Conflict as a guarantee of the legitimacy of the existing Russian regime: will there be a "next one"? Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.20 | auditorium | |||||
| 19 | The role of frozen conflicts in promoting Russia's military might. Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.20 | auditorium | |||||
| 20 | The Baltic States – a chance to become the next "frozen conflict"? Literature discussion. Presentations of reports | Classes | 0.20 | auditorium | |||||
| Assessment | |||||||||
| Unaided Work: | During the module students will prepare for the seminars, read literature, write final paper and prepare a presentation. The aim of a seminar is to develop students' ability to argue and present their opinion in a consistent and logical manner; to promote activity; to test students’ knowledge of the topic and materials in question. The aim of the essays is to develop the ability to identify the key issue of the topic; to identify and evaluate alternative arguments and views; to offer an opinion, explaining and arguing why this particular opinion is better than any other. The report should compare all possible alternatives, considering all their strengths and weaknesses. Another goal is to develop skills to independently study the situation and the problem, give it an assessment and be able to find solutions. | ||||||||
| Assessment Criteria: | Attendance – 10% Activity and preparedness during seminars – 30% Presentation and paper – 40% Final essay – 20% | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Full-Time): | Exam (Written) | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Part-Time): | Exam (Written) | ||||||||
| Learning Outcomes | |||||||||
| Knowledge: | Students will demonstrate understanding of the development of frozen conflicts in the post-post-Soviet space, understanding both their history and factors that influenced their occurrence. Students will understand how Russia’s position in the international environment and the dynamics of relations with external factors (USA, NATO, EU, etc.) have affected Russia’s involvement in the escalation of conflicts. | ||||||||
| Skills: | Students will independently select and analyze literature sources related to the role, activities and dynamics of Russia in the post-post-Soviet space. As a result of the analysis of the performed independent work, students will critically evaluate the ideas expressed in the literature and discuss the interpretation of these ideas in the presentations to other colleagues. | ||||||||
| Competencies: | Students will evaluate and explain the impact of various factors on Russia’s approach to resolving frozen conflicts, as well as provide recommendations and generate new ideas about possible future scenarios of frozen conflicts and their impact on Russia’s role in the international system in professional, academic and business environments. These skills will be interdisciplinary – they will be used by students to assess and forecast any trends in Russia’s (and other countries’) external interactions in the short, medium- and long-term perspective. | ||||||||
| Bibliography | |||||||||
| No. | Reference | ||||||||
| Required Reading | |||||||||
| 1 | Andrew Radin, Clint Reach, Russian Views of the International Order, Rand Cooperation, 2017, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. Available from: https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports… | ||||||||
| 2 | Julia Gurganus and Eugene Rumer, Russia’s Global Ambitions in Perspective, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, February 2019, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Available from: https://carnegieendowment.org/files/RumerGurganus_Perspecti… | ||||||||
| 3 | Darya B. Kazarinova, Vasilya B. Taisheva, Perceptions of Russia in the Global World. Does Russian Education Policy Work?, October 2019, Russian Foundation of Basic Research. Available from: https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/203… | ||||||||
| 4 | Givi Gigitashvili, Russia’s National Interests and Foreign Policy Preferences, November 2016, Latvian Institute of International Affairs. Available from: https://www.lai.lv/viedokli/russias-national-interests-and-… | ||||||||
| 5 | Tatiana Zakaurtseva, The Current Foreign Policy of Russia. Available from: http://133.50.171.227/coe21/publish/no16_1_ses/05_zakaurtse… | ||||||||
| 6 | Richard Sokolsky and Eugene Rumer, U.S.-Russian Relations in 2030, June 2020, Carnegie Endowment. Available from: https://carnegieendowment.org/files/SokolskyRumer_US-Russia… | ||||||||
| 7 | Julianne Smith and Adam Twardowski, The Future of U.S. – Russia Relations, January 2017. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep06297?seq=3#metadata_inf… | ||||||||
| 8 | Julianne Smith, The NATO-Russia Relationship. Defining Moment or Déjà Vu?, November 2018, Center For Strategic And Security Studies. Available from: https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/lega… | ||||||||
| 9 | Yuriy Davidov, Should Russia Join NATO?, 2020, NATO. Available from: https://www.nato.int/acad/fellow/98-00/davydov.pdf | ||||||||
| 10 | Dmitry Trenin, What Does Russia Want From the United States? April 2020, The Moscow Times. Available from: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/04/17/what-does-russia-… | ||||||||
| 11 | Thomas de Waal, Nikolaus von Twickel, Beyond Frozen Conflict. Scenarios for the Separatist Disputes of Eastern Europe, 2020, CEPS, Brussels Rowman & Littlefield International, London. Available from: https://www.ceps.eu/ceps-publications/beyond-frozen-conflict | ||||||||
| 12 | Markedonov Sergey, Goodbye Post-Soviet Space?, in: Evolution of Post-Soviet Space: Past, Present and Future: An Anthology. Moscow: NPMP RIAC, 2017 | ||||||||
| 13 | Nikolay Silaev, William Hill, Iraklii Khintba, Russia Direct Brief #23, August 2015. Available from: https://russia-direct.org/catalog/product/russia-direct-bri… | ||||||||
| 14 | Gushin Aleksandr, Dankov Artem, Markedonov Sergey, Rekeda Sergey, Konflikty na postsovetskom prostranstve: perspektivy uregulirovaniya i rol’ Rossii, Working Paper, Russian International Affairs Council, 36, 2016 | ||||||||
| 15 | De Waal Thomas, Uncertain territory. The strange life and curious sustainability of de facto states, New Eastern Europe, 2018. Available from: http://neweasterneurope.eu/2018/04/26/uncertain-territory-s… | ||||||||
| 16 | Alexander Dubowy, A Long Way Back from the End of History, Russia in Global Affairs. Available from: https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/the-new-world-disorde… | ||||||||
| 17 | Anatol Gudim, Transnistria: Conflicts and Pragmatism of the Economy, Centre for Strategic Studies and Reforms. Available from: http://pdc.ceu.hu/archive/00003500/01/transnistria.pdf | ||||||||
| 18 | Dumitru Minzarari, Moscow-Dependent Moldovan Government Turns Blind Eye to Russian Military Activities in Transnistria, 2020, Jamestown Foundation. Available from: https://jamestown.org/program/moscow-dependent-moldovan-gov… | ||||||||
| 19 | Piotr Oleksy, A Certain Distance from Russia, 2020, Visegrad Insight. Available from: https://visegradinsight.eu/transnistria-new-conditions-cert… | ||||||||
| 20 | Ryan Cimmino, The Transnistrian Gambit: Russia in Moldova, 2019, originally published in the HIR Winter 2019 Issue. Available from: https://hir.harvard.edu/the-transnistrian-gambit-russia-in-… | ||||||||
| 21 | Michael Kofman, The August War, Ten Years On: A Retrospective on the Russo-Georgian War, 2018, War on the Rocks. Available from: https://warontherocks.com/2018/08/the-august-war-ten-years-… | ||||||||
| 22 | Russian Federation: Legal Aspects of War in Georgia, 2008. Available from: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/legal-aspects-of-war/russia-le… | ||||||||
| 23 | Robert E. Hamilton, August 2008 And Everything After. A Ten-Year Retrospective on the Russia-Georgia War, 2018, Foreign Policy research institute, Black sea strategy PaPers. Available from: https://www.fpri.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/final-bssp-… | ||||||||
| 24 | Jonathan Masters, Ukraine: “Conflict at the Crossroads of Europe and Russia”, 2020, Council on Foreign Relations. Available from: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/ukraine-conflict-crossroad… | ||||||||
| 25 | Taras Kuzio, Paul D’Anieri, Causes and Potential Solutions to the Ukraine and Russia Conflict, 2020, E-international relations. Available from: https://www.e-ir.info/2020/06/27/causes-and-potential-solut… | ||||||||
| 26 | Taras Kuzio, Vladimir Putin’s forever war against Ukraine continues, 2020, Atlantic Council. Available from: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/vladimir… | ||||||||
| 27 | Lauren Van Metre, Viola G. Gienger, Kathleen Kuehnast, The Ukraine-Russia Conflict Signals and Scenarios for the Broader Region, 2015, United States Institute of Peace. Available from: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/189766/SR366-The-Ukraine-Russ… | ||||||||
| 28 | Crisis Group, The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: A Visual Explainer. Available from: https://www.crisisgroup.org/content/nagorno-karabakh-confli… | ||||||||
| 29 | Stephen Khan, How war in Nagorno-Karabakh could spread – and become a major problem for Europe, 2016, The Conversation. Available from: https://theconversation.com/how-war-in-nagorno-karabakh-cou… | ||||||||
| 30 | Shamkhal Abilov, The Consequences of the Nagorno–Karabakh War for Azerbaijan and the Undeniable Reality of Khojaly Massacre: A View from Azerbaijan, 2016. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313412388_The_Cons… | ||||||||
| 31 | P. L. Dash, Chechnya: War Has No End, 2000, JSTOR. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4409225 | ||||||||
| 32 | Aristidis Tsatsos, Second Chechen War: Causes, Dynamics and Termination - A Civil War between Risk and Opportunity? 2014, Research Gate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314414780_Second_C… | ||||||||
| 33 | Kennelly, Kevin G., The role of NATO and the EU in resolving frozen conflicts, 2006, Institutional Archive of Naval Postgraduate School. Available from: https://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/2435/06Dec_K… | ||||||||
| 34 | Jakub Lachert, Post-Soviet Frozen Conflicts: A Challenge For European Security, 2019, Warsaw Institute. Available from: https://warsawinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Post… | ||||||||
| 35 | Pierre H. N. Martin, The EU’s Eastern Partnership, post–Soviet frozen conflicts and the war in Eastern Ukraine, 2017, Nouvelle Europe. Available from: http://www.nouvelle-europe.eu/en/eu-s-eastern-partnership-p… | ||||||||
| 36 | N. Nechayeva-Yuriychuk, The EU Position toward Frozen Conflicts Influence on Security and Energy Stability in Black Sea Region, 2010, Research Gate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305700888_The_EU_P… | ||||||||
| 37 | Klaudia Báňaiová, Samuel Goda, Frozen ground: Role of the OSCE in protracted conflicts Recommendations for Slovak OSCE Chairmanship, 2018, Slovak Foreign Policy Association. Available from: http://www.sfpa.sk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Frozen-ground…. | ||||||||
