Bachelor
2021/2022
Regional Studies
Type:
Compulsory course
Area of studies:
Public Policy and Social Sciences
Delivered by:
Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs
When:
3 year, 1, 2 module
Mode of studies:
offline
Open to:
students of one campus
Instructors:
Еремин Аркадий Алексеевич,
Artem Altukhov,
Anna Drozdova,
Alexander S. Korolev,
Olga Puzanova,
Andrei Skriba,
Andrey Zeltyn
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
5
Contact hours:
56
Course Syllabus
Abstract
This course aims to provide students with an understanding of different regions and the political challenges they are facing. The course is designed in a way that student choses the region of interest and widens and deepens knowledge about it, its historical, political and economic peculiarities. Special attention is being dedicated to the modern challenges to regional political and economic cooperation and integration and responses to some of these challenges. Much emphasis is being made not only on the relations among the countries within the region, but also the role of the external actors. Students get to select one of the following regions: Ibero-America, East and Southeast Asia, Greater Middle East or the EU and Wider Europe. The EU and Wider Europe: Europe as a region is associated not with geographical borders of the continent but with the process of European regionalisation and different forms and levels of integration of European countries in the EU and beyond. The European Union is considered to be the most successful example of regional integration. The course introduces students to the history and process of European integration as well as the major challenges to it both in the past and present. Apart from learning the institutional functioning of the European Union, its internal issues and prospects, students will explore the impact the EU has within the Wider Europe and how the relations between the EU and other states evolve. Ibero-America: The course introduces students to the key issues in the security of the Ibero-American region, both traditional (including border wars and peace régimes) and non-conventional, such as issues of multidimensional poverty and sustainable development, transnational guerrilla warfare, illicit goods’ trafficking, and migration. Core interests and recent policies of the key external actors are discussed. East and Southeast Asia: The course provides students with the most important historical, political, institutional, economic, and socio-cultural tendencies of East Asia, mainly China, Japan, ROK and DPRK and Southeast Asia (ASEAN member-states), including the contemporary China’s rise, conflict on the Korean peninsula, South-China Sea issue and many other relevant topics. Greater Middle East: The course is designed to explore historical roots, ethno-religious foundations and contemporary evolutions in the Greater Middle East (GME). The main attention is focused on the regional and international relations of the countries of the GME in the Modern Times, the power play persued by the external actors and the currents from within shaping the future of one of the most important regions in the world.
Learning Objectives
- Aims and Objectives: • familiarize students with the major historical developments and in either region • analyse the major challenges the region is currently facing in different spheres • focus on both internal and external dimensions of the region
Expected Learning Outcomes
- By the end of the course students should be able to: • demonstrate a thorough understanding of the region, its institutional composition, economic policies and political processes • assess the past and present processes in the region and how they affect countries inside the region • demonstrate a critical understanding of the key policies and their impact on the outside world
Course Contents
- Ibero-America: Introduction. Pre-Columbian history The EU and Wider Europe: History of the European integration till 1980s East and Southeast Asia:The countries of Southeast Asia after gaining independence: the rise of nationalism, the formation of national identity, institution building in Southeast Asia Greater Middle East: Historical perspective of the formation of the contemporary Middle East (ME)
- The EU and Wider Europe: Delors Commission: creation of the EU Introduction. Ibero-America: Pre-Columbian history. East ad Southest Asia: The origin and further evolution of economic regionalism in Southeast Asia: similarities and differences with the EU
- EU reforms in the 1990s. Independence movements . Japan’s position within East Asia. Landmarks in Japan’s development. WWII and the Great Overhaul. Friend and Foe in the national and international agendas of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries.
- The institutions of the EU. (Economic) development and the persistent socio-economic conditions. ASEAN and Regional Environment.
- The EU as a normative superpower. Alternating left and right-wing turns in Latin American statecraft and politics. 1. “Integration race”: CPTPP vs RCEP. Impatience and malpractice – how the West tried to educate the East, foreign policymaking in the ME
- Euroscepticism and its causes. Violence, drugs, and transnational organized crime. ASEAN and Regional Environment. Identity vs Sovereignty in the Regional System.
- EU shrinking: Brexit. Building the independent states of Latin America. Historical background and subsequent formation of the Security Community in Southeast Asia - comparison with the Euro-Atlantic. After Afghanistan. Reconstruction of the regional and international format. The War on Terror and its impact on the political landscape/
- The EU – Russia relations. Democratizing and antagonizing the regional autocracies: Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. China’s rise. Militarising and Pacifying the Middle East as problem making and problem solving strategies
- The Eastern Partnership. External actors and influences in Latin America. "Old and New Challenges of the Region". The New “Great Game” and the “Arab Spring”
- Historical Foes on the Road to Reconciliation
Assessment Elements
- End of Module Essay: Students choose one of the topics from the list and write a research essay.End of Module Essay: Students choose one of the topics from the list and write a research essay. The list of topics will be distributed to students one month prior to the submission deadline which is Module I session week. Students may also suggest the topic of their own interest, but please be sure to approve it with the instructor. The essay should be historical, but not descriptive and with a clear research component (research question which will be answered in the essay using empirical evidence)
- Pop-up quizzesQuizzes are short tests aimed to verify how the material was learned and understood. During the course there will be 5-7 quizzes on the material covered. NOTE that quizzes will be conducted without prior notification. Consult your instructor on the material which will be assessed as well as the format of the quizzes. They are conducted via Socrative or written form (multiple choice or open questions)
- Final EssayStudents choose one of the topics from the list and write a research essay. The essay should be written on a recent problematic (something which is already resolved, but happened relatively recently 5-10 years ago), and on the issues related to international relations or foreign policy. The list of topics will be distributed to students one month prior to the submission deadline which is Module 2 session week. Students may also suggest the topic of their own interest, but please be sure to approve it with the instructor. Avoid writing on the issues which are not resolved yet, otherwise it’s a prognosis and not a research.
- Seminar participationAll students are expected to attend every class and participate by contributing to the in-class discussions, participating in group projects and making notes. The statements and answers to the questions must contain well formulated arguments that clearly show your position. To do this, students must demonstrate a quality preparation for the seminar: read all the assigned literature and be ready to perform your critical evaluation of it.
Interim Assessment
- 2021/2022 2nd module0.4 * Final Essay + 0.2 * Seminar participation + 0.15 * Pop-up quizzes + 0.25 * End of Module Essay: Students choose one of the topics from the list and write a research essay.
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Baldwin, R. E. (2015). Multilateralising regionalism. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.6D4E214A
- Globalisation, regionalism and economic interdependence, , 2008
- Hermann Christian. (1991). The Cambridge History of Latin America. Vol. I et II : Colonial Latin America;vol. III : From Independence to c. 1870; vol. IV et V : c. 1870 to 1930. Revue d’histoire Moderne et Contemporaine, (2), 342. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsper&AN=edsper.rhmc.0048.8003.1991.num.38.2.1594.t1.0342.0000.1
- Regionalism. Vol.1: Classical regional integration (1945-1970), , 2013
- Romanova, T. A. . V. (DE-588)171924568, (DE-627)389876453, (DE-576)132676486, aut. (2019). Studying EU-Russian relations an overview in search for an epistemic community Tatiana Romanova. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.1666078247
- The rise of post-hegemonic regionalism : the case of Latin America, , 2012
- Trenin, D. V. . (DE-588)114738327, (DE-576)175880190. (2014). A practical approach to EU-Russian relations / Dmitri Trenin. Moscow: Carnegie Moscow Center. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.41307370X
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Bligh, A. (2014). Redefining the Post-Nation-State Emergence Phase in the Middle East in Light of the “Arab Spring.” Journal of the Middle East & Africa, 5(3), 201–219. https://doi.org/10.1080/21520844.2014.964139
- Pempel, T. J. (2010). Soft Balancing, Hedging, and Institutional Darwinism: The Economic-Security Nexus and East Asian Regionalism. Journal of East Asian Studies, 10(2), 209–238. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1598240800003441