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Course Syllabus

Master 2020/2021

US-Russia Relations after the End of the Cold War

Type: Elective course (International Relations in Eurasia)
Area of studies: International Relations
Delivered by: Магистерская программа "Международные отношения в Евразии", направление подготовки "Международные отношения" (Кент)
Where: Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs
When: 2 year, 1 module
Mode of studies: offline
Instructors: Dmitry Suslov
Master’s programme: International Relations in Eurasia
Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Contact hours: 36

Course Syllabus

Full Syllabus

Abstract

The course provides a logical and necessary supplement to the curricular of the Master programs “International Relations: European and Asian Studies” and “International Relations in Eurasia” offered by the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs of the HSE. This curricular used to contains courses on the US and on Russia, but lacked ones on the US-Russia relations. The course offered is the only course on the US-Russia relations offered by the Higher School of Economics and one of very few offered in Russia in general. The course would be of special interest for those Russian and foreign students, interested in contemporary Russian and the US foreign policies, as well as in the US-Russia relations, which is a crucial dimension of Russian foreign and defense policies. One of the course’s advantages is its up-to-date nature. It pays special attention to analyses of the most-recent, but vital for the future, step of the US-Russia relations: their relations under the 1st Obama Administration, known as “reset”. An important feature of the course is that it approaches the US-Russia relations problems and development in a wider context of Foreign and Domestic policies of the United States and Russia in a given period of time, as well as of the challenges and opportunities the sides were facing in an International Environment. Thus, the US-Russia relations are dealt with as a part and parcel of a bigger picture of the sides’ development and of evolution of their international positions. The course has also a sound theoretical dimension. First, analyses of the US and Russian foreign policies is based on the major theories of International Relations (Realism, Liberalism, Constructivism) and of foreign policy making. Second, the course will touch upon fundamental theoretical concepts of International Security, inseparable of the US-Russia relations, such as Strategic Deterrence and Strategic Stability.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • Aims of the course are: to conduct conceptual analyses and practical study of the US-Russia relations since the end of the Cold War; to explore structural problems and theoretical patterns of the US-Russia relations; to analyze evolution of the US-Russia relations during the last 20 years; provide prognosis of the US-Russia relations evolution for the short- and middle-term future.
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • Questions/Tasks for Self-Study: Which theories of IR are best applied for the US-Russia relations analyses and in which situations? What constitutes national interests for Russia and for the US? What is the dynamics of the role of values in the US-Russia relations? Does the US-Russia relations agenda reflect the objective challenges and opportunities the sides face in the evolving International system?
  • Suggested Research Topics: “Vicious cycle” nature of the US-Russia relations: perspectives of the IR schools. Change and continuity in the US-Russia relations agenda development.
  • Questions/Tasks for Self-Study: Why did the role of Russia decrease in the US foreign policy since the end of the Cold war? What place does the US policy occupy in the Russian defence and military strategy? How prominent is “strategic stability” for the current international security and international system? What is the vitality of the US-Russia relations for the evolving international relations beyond strategic stability?
  • Suggested Research Topics: US-Russia relations today and tomorrow: Global or Regional? Relevance of the US role and place in the Russian defence policy. Limits and consequences of the US policy of “ignoring Russia”. The problem of interdependence in the US-Russia relations.
  • Questions/Tasks for Self-Study: What is strategic deterrence philosophy and how does it impact the US-Russia relations? Why is Russian strategic defence policy centred around parity principle and how does it impact the US-Russia relations? What are the major contradictions between Russia and the US at the Post-Soviet space? What are the US and Russian visions of the desired international order?
  • Suggested Research Topics: Ways for overcoming strategic deterrence philosophy in the US-Russia relations. Comparative analyses of parity and minimal sufficiency as governing principles of the US-Russia relations in strategic stability sphere. Ways for overcoming the US-Russia contradictions at the Post-Soviet space. The future of values and value incompatibility in the US-Russia relations.
  • Questions/Tasks for Self-Study: Why has the “Marshall Plan for Russia” never arrived? What was the difference between the Bush-senior and Clinton Administrations approaches towards the Russian transformation? How successful was the US policy of “aligning with the Russian reforms”? Why wasn’t the Russian attempt to join the West successful?
  • Suggested Research Topics: Realism and liberalism in the US policy towards Russia in early 1990-s. US and Russian approaches to nuclear arms reductions in early 1990s. The US impact on the Russian political and economic development in early 1990-s. Ignoring Russia and engaging Russia in early 1990s: dilemma or compatibility?
  • Questions/Tasks for Self-Study Why did Russia turn from “joining the West” to “multipolarity” foreign policy strategy? How did the US behavior as a “benign hegemon” and “global sheriff” impact Russia and the US-Russia relations? What were the major “compensatory” efforts on the part of the US towards Russia in the 2nd half of the 1990-s? Why did Russia send its paratroopers from Bosnia to Kosovo in June 1999 and what were the results and consequences of this step?
  • Suggested Research Topics: Russian position on European security reform in the 2nd half of the 1990s and the US policy. Prerequisites for NATO expansion and the Russian policy. US-sponsored integrationist arrangements and energy projects at the Post-Soviet space in the 2nd half of the 1990-s. The Kosovo intervention: a precedent or an exception? Dimensions of Russian “semi-isolation” of the year 1999: the Kosovo crisis, the OSCE Istanbul summit and the 2nd Chechen war.
  • Questions/Tasks for Self-Study: What was the foreign policy of the Bush Administration before 9/11? Why did Russia prefer George Bush to Albert Gore? How did 9/11 impact the US-Russia relations? How did Russia participate in the “Grand Anti-Terror Coalition”? What was the Russian policy on arms control in early 2000-s? What were the consequences of the US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty?
  • Suggested Research Topics: Anti-terrorism as a pillar of the positive agenda of US-Russia relations: how sustainable? Realism and Neo-conservatism in the Bush Administration foreign policy. Unilateralism and hegemonism in the Bush Administration foreign policy. NATO-Russia relations in 1997-1999 and after 2002: comparative analyses.
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • The role of the US-Russia relations for the sides and in the current International System
  • Methodological and theoretical framework for the US-Russia relations analyses
  • The US-Russia relations in early 1990-s
  • Worsening of the US-Russia relations in the 2nd half of 1990-s and the crisis of 1999
  • Improvement of the US-Russia relations in 2000-2002
  • Structural Problems, Contradictions and Patterns of the US-Russia Relations
  • Gradual deterioration of the US-Russia relations in 2003-2007
  • Crisis of the US-Russia relations of 2008
  • “Reset” of the US-Russia relations: preconditions, initial logic, development and major achievements
  • Crisis of the “reset” in 2011-2012. The problems of missile defense and “Arab spring” in the US-Russia relations
  • “Mini-crisis” of the US-Russia relations of 2012. “Selective pragmatic cooperation” model of US-Russia relations in 2013
  • Ukrainian crisis and the New US-Russian confrontation. Evolution of the US-Russian confrontation in 2014-2016
  • US-Russia Relations during the Trump Presidency
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking Work at the seminars
  • non-blocking Written Exam
  • non-blocking Work at the seminars
  • non-blocking Written Exam
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • Interim assessment (1 module)
    0.3 * Work at the seminars + 0.7 * Written Exam
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Berger, S. R. (2000). A Foreign Policy for the Global Age. Foreign Affairs, 79(6), 22. https://doi.org/10.2307/20049965
  • Goldgeier, J. M. (2001). The United States And Russia: Keeping Expectations Realistic. Policy Review, (109), 47. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=asn&AN=5386788
  • Goldgeier, J. M., & McFaul, M. (2003). Power and Purpose : U.S. Policy Toward Russia After the Cold War. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=112200
  • Ikenberry, G. J. (2002). America s Imperial Ambition-THE LURES OF PREEMPTION. Foreign Affairs, 81(5), 44. https://doi.org/10.2307/20033268
  • Lake, A. (1993). From containment to enlargement : remarks of Anthony Lake. [Washington, D.C.? : Executive Office of the President, 1993. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsgpr&AN=edsgpr.000406264
  • Mankoff, J. (2011). Russian Foreign Policy : The Return of Great Power Politics (Vol. 2nd ed). Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=399624
  • Moscow treaty [electronic resource] : treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on strategic offensive reductions, May 24, 2002 / United States Department of State. (2002). [Washington, D.C.] : U.S. Dept. of State, 2002. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsgpr&AN=edsgpr.ocn264789673
  • Powaski, R. E. . V. (DE-588)132117827, (DE-576)298953366, aut. (2019). Ideals, Interests, and U.S. Foreign Policy from George H. W. Bush to Donald Trump / by Ronald E. Powaski. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.511576633
  • Rice, C. (2000). Promoting the National Interest. Foreign Affairs, 79(1), 45. https://doi.org/10.2307/20049613
  • Russia’s wrong direction: what the United States can and should do : report of an independent task force ; uncorrected proofs / Council on Foreign Relations. (2006). New York/N.Y. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.389706639
  • Stent, A. (2014). The Limits of Partnership : U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century - Updated Edition. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=654224
  • Stent, A. (DE-588)121995917, (DE-576)293037655. (2014). The limits of partnership : U.S.-Russian relations in the twenty-first century / Angela E. Stent. Princeton,N.J [u.a.]: Princeton Univ. Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.407184589
  • Trenin, D. V. . (DE-588)114738327, (DE-576)175880190. (2011). Post-imperium : a Eurasian story / Dmitri Trenin. Washington, DC [u.a.]: Carnegie Endowment for Internat. Peace. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.353110175
  • Tsygankov, A. (2010). US-Russia Relations in the Post-Western World. Conference Papers —— International Studies Association, 1. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=poh&AN=59232645
  • TSYGANKOV, A. (2014). The Limits of Partnership: U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century. Political Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell), 129(3), 519–521. https://doi.org/10.1002/polq.12246
  • Walt, S. M. (2000). Two Cheers for Clinton’s Foreign Policy. Foreign Affairs, 79(2), 63. https://doi.org/10.2307/20049641

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Dallin, A. (1997). Jack F. Matlock, Jr. Autopsy on an Empire: The American Ambassador’s Account of the Collapse of the Soviet Union. New York: Random House. 1995. Pp. viii, 836. $35.00. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.3E38933E
  • Erickson, C. W. (2004). Counterterror Mobilization and Democracy: A Comparison of the War(s) on Terror of the United States and Russia, 1998-2004. Conference Papers —— Midwestern Political Science Association, 1–68. https://doi.org/mpsa_proceeding_24932.PDF
  • Hamilton, J. B., & Fukuyama, F. (2018). The End of History and the Last Man. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.FFDEB7F0
  • Palmer, G., & Morgan, T. C. (2006). A Theory of Foreign Policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=400072
  • Scowcroft, B., & Bush, G. H. W. (2013). A World Transformed (Vol. Unabridged). New York: Vintage. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=739091
  • Talbott, S. (2013). The Russia Hand : A Memoir of Presidential Diplomacy (Vol. Unabridged). New York: Random House. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=720255
  • The foreign policy concept of the Russian Federation : Approved by the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin, June 28, 2000 / Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. (2000). Moscow. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.389808997
  • The national security strategy of the United States of America / The White House. (2006). Washington/D.C. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.389707309
  • Tsygankov, A. P., & Palgrave Connect (Online service). (2009). Russophobia : Anti-Russian Lobby and American Foreign Policy (Vol. 1st ed). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=310657