Russia's Strategy from the Middle East to the Global South. 2100-ERASMUS-RUST
Main Themes
I. The logic of Russian geopolitical expansion to the Near and Middle East (Introduction);
II. From the Grand Duchy of Moscow to the Russian Empire: the struggle for the “warm waters” and the Near East;
III. The Russian Empire and the Eastern Question: End of the XVIII century till 1917;
IV. The Soviet Union: the World Revolution and the Middle East (1917-1941);
V. The evolution of the Soviet strategy towards the Middle East - from ideology to geopolitical projects;
VI. The Soviet Union and the Third Word: Ideological (World Revolutionary Process) and Geopolitical Determinants;
VI. Russia’s Policy towards Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and the expansionist doctrines of Zhirinovsky and Dugin;
VII. Russian/Soviet Naval Strategy in the Middle East and the Turkish Straits and Russia;
VIII. The Syrian Campaign: strategic and geopolitical consequences for Russia and the Middle East;
IX. The Wagner Group and the Greater Middle East;
X. Russia and the Arab World/Israel
XI. The Fundamental Principles of Russia’s Foreign Policy and Strategy in the Global South in XXI century;
XII. China and Russia's competition for the Third World/Global South;
XIII. The concepts of the Multipolar World/Center of Powers/Third Rome;
XIV. The geostrategic importance of Crimea, the Sea of Azov, and the Black Sea in the Russian expansion towards the Middle East.
XV. The Levant and Eastern European wars and their impact on Russia’s presence in the region. Future of Russia in the Middle East and the Global South.
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes:
To provide students with all necessary historical and contemporary knowledge for better understanding the current Russian conduct in the Middle East and the Global South; to obtain knowledge about basic problems in the Russian Strategy to the Middle East; to be aware of existence of Russian century-long geopolitical ambitions on the possession of constant influence in the Middle East and being capable of characterizing their activities with different countries and subregions; being able to name and to characterize the most important phenomena/trends/literary texts/writings of a chosen region in the correlation between Russia and the Middle East; to be capable of making comparisons between a general situation in the Middle East and national interests of Russia and its relations with the key regional actors; to manage to see a general picture of happening events in the broader historical perspective and to be able to think about the future of regional and even global implications since the return of Russia to the Middle East and the Global South.
Bibliography
Bibliography:
Evgeniĭ Primakov, "Russia and the Arabs: Behind the Scenes in the Middle East from the Cold War to the Present," Basic Books, 2009
Michael Kofman, Mathew Rojansky, "What Kind of Victory for Russia in Syria?" January 2018 MILITARY REVIEW ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
Alexey Malashenko ,“Russia and Arab Spring” October 2013 Carnegie Moscow Center.
Alexey Vasiliev “Russia’s Middle East Policy From Lenin to Putin,” Routledge 2018
Kreutz, Andrej,”Russia in the Middle East : friend or foe?” Praeger, 2007
Sicker, Martin. “The Islamic world in decline : from the Treaty of Karlowitz to the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire,” Praeger 2001
Mark N. Katz, "Russia and the Middle East: Towards a New Foreign Policy and Diplomacy", Routledge, 2018
Robert O. Freedman, "Russia and the Middle East: Foreign Policy and Diplomacy Since the Cold War," Bloomsbury Academic, 2017;
Igor S. Ivanov, "The New Russian Diplomacy," Brookings Institution Press, 2002
Moshe Gammer, "Russia and the Middle East: From Alexander II to Putin," Routledge, 2018;
Yevgeny Primakov, "Russia and the Arabs: Behind the Scenes in the Middle East from the Cold War to the Present", Basic Books, 2009;
Andrei P. Tsygankov, "Russia in the Middle East: Friend or Foe?" Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2020;
Khaled Yacoub Oweis, "Putin's War in Syria: Russian Foreign Policy and the Price of America's Absence", I.B. Tauris, 2018;
Robert Singh, "Russia's Foreign Policy in the Middle East: From Lenin to Putin", Bloomsbury Academic, 2018;
Charles R. Lister, "The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency" , Oxford University Press, 2016;
Steven Lee Myers, "The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin", Vintage, 2015
Ridvan Bari Urcosta,
The Strategic Dimension of the Sea of Azov // Center for International Maritime
Security http://cimsec.org/the-strategic-dimensions-of-the-sea-of-azov/38976
"Russian-Turkish Relations Undermined by Status of Crimea," Jamestown Foundation,
//https://jamestown.org/program/russian-turkish-relations-undermined-status-crimea/
Leader of the far north: Putin forging a new Russian coalition in Eurasia // United States Army War College https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/leader-far-north-putin-iran-turkey/
Syria: Russia's Military Proving Ground, The U.S. Naval Institute,
// https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2018-03/syria-russias-military-proving-ground
Is Russia creating the “Eurasian triumvirate” with Iran and Turkey?// Per Concordiam, The German Marshall Center // https://globalnetplatform.org/system/files/per_concordiam_v8n3_eng.pdf
"What price is Russia ready to pay for Turkey? // The Jerusalem
Post, http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/What-price-is-Russia-ready-to-pay-for-Turkey-477066
Additional information
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