Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

This course explores the problems and potential solutions that have been driving the relations between Europe (the EU and its Member States in particular) and Russia for the last 30 years. While this is essentially a political science course, it takes a historical approach to exploring this relationship. This approach enables us to examine the major turning points in Europe-Russia relations, their determinants, and immediate consequences, but also to evaluate the lasting impact of the actions and decisions taken at the early stages onto the current shape of the relations in a path-dependent manner.

Most of those turning points pertain to international security domain, including the Chechen wars, the Kosovo crisis, the 2008 Russian-Georgian war, the annexation of Crimea, and Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. If you want to learn why the sanctions introduced by Brussels during the Second Chechen war made the Kremlin believe that the EU would always act like a barking dog that never bites and what role Tony Blair played in this outcome, how Ukraine's Orange Revolution forced the Russian elites to change their mind about the benign nature of the EU as an international actor or why EU's Eastern Partnership was perceived by the Kremlin as a threat to the regime stability not only in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus but in Russia itself, this course is for you.

One 2-hour session per week over 10 weeks

No specific requirements of entry apply

None

None

There are three forms of summative assessment in this course that add up into 100% of the grade:

■ 20% of the final grade comes from in-class participation evaluated on a weekly basis (averaged grade);

■ 30% of the final grade comes from weekly 11-question quizzes (basic multiple choice, with one correct answer) based on the weekly readings (averaged grade);

■ 50% of the final grade comes from an analytical piece of 3000-3500 words on the topic selected by a student (either an op-ed on a "hot" topic in Europe-Russia relations that would attempt to trace the root causes of the selected event or a profile article (written portrait of a person) about a person who has played an important role in Europe-Russia relations that would attempt to explain the choices made by this person in one of the pivotal moments in the history of Europe-Russia relations).

Adjustments and/or alternative modes of assessment will be available to students with disabilities that hinder attendance and/or public speaking.

Reassessments are not available for any of the summative assessment components.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below.

The core aim of this course is to introduce students to the major turning points in the relations between Europe and Russia over the last 30 years, to develop their knowledge of both domestic politics of the individual European states and EU-level political developments and how their interplay has been influencing the relations between Europe and Russia, and to help them appreciate how Russia's regime trajectory has been affecting those relations.

The course also equips students with the analytical toolkit to explain how and why these turning points came to be what they are in Europe-Russia relations, to evaluate the lasting impact of the historical events of the last 30 years onto the current shape of Europe-Russia relations, to critically engage with commentary on the present-day developments in Europe-Russia relation, and to contribute in writing to the expert discussions on the topic.

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

-examine and explain the determinants of the outcomes around major historical events in the relations between Europe and Russia over the last 30 years;

-evaluate the impact of the historical events of the last 30 years on the current shape of Europe-Russia relations through the lens of historical institutionalism, the path dependence approach, and other relevant theoretical frameworks (like normative power Europe, etc);

-compare and contrast roles played by different European actors in Europe-Russia relations over the last 30 years;

-trace the evolution of Russia's political regime and its impact on the relations between Europe and Russia;

-critically assess commentary on the present-day development in Europe-Russia relations and produce analytical pieces on the topic of various genres.

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