Master
2023/2024
The International Politics of Security Strategies: the EU, Russia and Strategic Studies
Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'
Category 'Best Course for New Knowledge and Skills'
Type:
Elective course (Politics. Economics. Philosophy)
Area of studies:
Political Science
Delivered by:
School of Politics and Governance
Where:
Faculty of Social Sciences
When:
2 year, 1, 2 module
Mode of studies:
offline
Open to:
students of all HSE University campuses
Master’s programme:
Политика. Экономика. Философия
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
6
Contact hours:
40
Course Syllabus
Abstract
The EU–Russia relationship has been described as ‘troubled’, ‘contested’, characterised by strategic dissonance and geopolitical rivalry. The aim of this course is to explore the political experience of this relationship with a view to understanding and explaining the policy choices, conflict dynamics and peace talks associated with the making of the EU and Russia’s global strategies.
This course will cover the history of the EU–Russia relationship from the origins of a ‘strategic partnership’ in the shadow of NATO’s military interventions in the Balkans in the 1990s through to today’s crisis in Ukraine and the strategic condition of mutual distrust that exists between Brussels and Moscow.
In the process, this course will offer a fresh take on the practice and theory of strategic studies in the context of the political system of global governance.
Learning Objectives
- • Develop an understanding of the logical relation between political discourse, legitimation and purposeful action in strategic studies
- • Understand the foundations of ‘global’ security strategies in the EU and Russia’s opposing ‘regional’ worldviews as powers in global governance
- • Understand the interconnected (and unintended) political events of agreement, alliance, revolution and contestation in–between the EU and Russia that are the consequence of policy choices in peacemaking and regional governance
- • Understand and explain the logic to the geopolitical rivalry & failures of the EU–Russia ‘strategic partnership’
- • Understand the preventive problem of diplomacy in the EU–Russia relationship & the normative question this raises for the international theory of contemporary peacemaking
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Student is capable of retrieving, collecting, processing and analyzing information relevant for achieving goals in the professional field
- Student is capable of executing applied analysis of the political phenomena and political processes
- Develop a detailed understanding of the (geo)political origins and unintended consequences of rivalry in the EU–Russia relationship along with an understanding of the politics of global security strategies.
- Develop a detailed understanding of a discourse–based method for doing strategic studies and normative theorising on contemporary power politics.
- Student is able to conduct activities in the field of strategic studies with EU-Russia relations as a case study
Course Contents
- Lecture 1. The ‘logic of strategy’ in the remaking of the post–Cold War order: the rationality and rhetoric of American ‘grand strategy’
- Lecture 2. Repetition of the EU–Russia ‘strategic partnership’: the choices to a narrative logic of worldviews of UN reform
- Lecture 3. Regional (dis)order of a ‘balance of power’: the narrative logic to the Russia–EU politics of ‘resistance’
- Lecture 4. ‘Civilising mission’(s) of regional governance: the narrative logic to the EU–Russia politics of ‘expansion’
- Lecture 5. ‘Dialogues of the deaf’ of regional governance: the narrative logic of norm(ative) impasse and illusions of diplomacy
- Lecture 6. The worldviews of a political conflict for ‘global strategic studies’
Assessment Elements
- Final examTake Home Final Exam (1 in total, worth 40%). The final exam will take the form of an essay of 2,000–2,500 words (not including the question and references) to be written at home. The exam paper will be handed out at the final seminar. There will be a choice of essay questions in the exam paper. Students will be expected to choose ONE question. Failure to submit on time = grade of 0. Failure to include references = grade of 0. Failure to write at least 2500 words (not including references) = grade of 0. Answers will be evaluated according to the grade sheet below. Each student will receive a grade sheet with feedback that will include the grade for this assignment and their final grade.
- Seminar participationSeminar Participation (7 in total, worth approx. 1.5% each) Students’ participation in seminar discussions is assessed according to the “intensity” and thoughtfulness of their participation. It is not enough to just turn up. Active participation is required to get a good participation grade. Obtaining an excellent grade requires demonstrating an ability to understand and analyse key ideas and concepts from (all) the required readings and the recommended readings (for one question) assigned for the seminar. A scorecard for participation will be kept by the seminar instructor and used to calculate a final participation score for each student. If a student misses a seminar, and has a valid reason for doing so, there will be an opportunity to complete a brief written task in order to obtain a participation grade for the class they have missed. Confirmation of the validity of absence must be provided to the study office.
- Seminar written answersSeminar Written Answers (4 in total, worth 10% each) A min. 500-word written answer +/- 10% (the question and references should be included in the answer but they are not included in the word count) on the student’s choice of ONE seminar question for any four seminars in which they are not presenting. These questions are deliberately long and contain nested sub questions [a), b), c) etc.] in order to elucidate the key points of debate associated with these questions and to indicate the key readings that students are encouraged to consult. Students can choose which sub questions, if any, they wish to answer in addition to the main question. They should clearly indicate in their written answer which question and sub questions (where applicable) they are addressing simply by using the relevant number and letter(s). Written answers are to be submitted to the seminar instructor no later than 24 hours before the seminar i.e. 18:10 the day before. Failure to submit on time = grade of 0. Failure to include references = grade of 0. Failure to write at least 270 words (not including references) = grade of 0. There is no maximum word count. Answers will be evaluated according to the grade sheet below. Each student will receive a grade sheet with feedback before the seminar in which the question they have answered will be discussed.
- Seminar presentationSeminar Presentations (1 in total, worth 10%) One 15–20 minute PowerPoint presentation on the student’s choice of seminar questions from any of the seven seminars. Preferences for questions should be discussed with the seminar instructor, Pavel Devyatkin. Not all students will be able to get their first choice of questions, so second and possibly third choices will have to be made, too. Details of the grading scheme will be shared by the seminar instructor, but they will follow the same lines of evaluation as the grade sheet below.
Interim Assessment
- 2023/2024 2nd module0.4 * Final exam + 0.1 * Seminar participation + 0.1 * Seminar presentation + 0.4 * Seminar written answers
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- International relations, political theory and the problem of order : beyond international relations theory?, Rengger, N. J., 2000
- Strategy in the contemporary world : an introduction to strategic studies, Baylis, J., 2005
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Bull, H. (2012). The Anarchical Society : A Study of Order in World Politics (Vol. 4th ed). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1523322
- Political conduct, Philp, M., 2007