Warfare and Armed Conflict in the former Soviet Union CEES4102

  • Academic Session: 2024-25
  • School: School of Social and Political Sciences
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
  • Typically Offered: Either Semester 1 or Semester 2 (Alternate Years)
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No

Short Description

The course offers an advanced introduction to the incidence of warfare and armed conflict that have taken place in the former Soviet Union since 1991, with a focus on diverging outcomes of wars in different conflicts across the region. 

 

The emergence, dynamics and termination of armed conflicts are critical to understanding the complex process of state- and nation-building in the former Soviet Union.

 

Starting with violent secessionist conflicts in the Caucasus region and Moldova and extending our analysis to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, this course will provide students with the contemporary context essential to understanding post-Soviet politics, economies and societies in times of war and beyond.

Timetable

Lecture: one hour per week, for 10 weeks

Seminar: one hour per week, for 10 weeks

Requirements of Entry

Standard requirement for entry to Honours in the College of Arts and College of Social Sciences

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

Essay, 2500 words (50%)

 Report, 1250 words (30%)

Group Presentation (20%)

Course Aims

This course will provide a grounding in the contemporary armed conflict and warfare in post-Soviet region. Students will analyse the role of military strategy, political and military objectives in shaping the dynamics of warfare and armed conflict in the former Soviet Union since 1991. To enable this, the course aims to develop the students' knowledge and understanding of armed conflicts in the post-Soviet region through engaging students with fundamentals of understanding the dynamics of armed conflicts in the region connected with the issues of political violence, and state- and nation-building. It also aims to equip students with the essentials of the relevant concepts of warfare, insurgency, secessionist ethno-nationalist conflicts in the context of the region, enabling students to examine the interplay of the region's conflicts and development with international politics.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ evaluate the causes and factors behind incidence of warfare in the region (Presentation)

■  compare and contrast dynamics and development of armed conflicts (Report)

■ construct sound arguments and conduct critical analysis of the key debates concerning war and armed conflict in the region (Essay)

■ demonstrate written analytical skills by producing an essay and technical report to a deadline (Essay and report)

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.