Module Information

This module begins by considering the legacy of the Gorbachev leadership, both in terms of the security concepts of New Political thinking and the impact of the collapse of Communist rule and the breakup of the USSR on the security of the Russian Federation. Students will discuss the debates within Russian policymaking and academic circles about the meaning of security in the post-Cold War world. Attention will be devoted to possible threats to Russian security from within (for example, challenges to Russia's territorial integrity such as that posed by Chechnya) as well as those which arise from outside the country's borders. Students will consider the nature and extent of Russian involvement in peacekeeping within the Commonwealth of Independent States and further afield. The issue of NATO enlargement and the future of arms control will be examined from the Russian perspective, and students will discuss the future of Russia's armed forces and its defence industry.

Lectures

1. Gorbachev and Soviet security: breaking with the past?

2. Influences on security policy in post-Soviet Russia

3. What constitutes security: Russian debates

4. Russia's security forces: Ministry of Defence

5. Russia's security forces: internal security forces, civil-military relations and the Russian defence industry

6. Organised crime, criminal behaviour, terrorism

7. Economic collapse, environmental degradation, ethnic/religious tension

8. Russia's first Chechen war: 1994-96

9. Russia's second Chechen war: 1999-?

10. Russia's 'near abroad' and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

11. Russian peacekeeping in the CIS

12. Regional threats to Russia's security

13. Russia's relations with the United States: 9/11 and after

14. Russian security and Moscow's role in the World

Students taking this module will have the opportunity to develop and practice a wide range of transferable skills. In lectures students will develop listening and notetaking skills. In preparation for seminars students will develop their reading, notetaking and analytical skills. In seminars students will be required to do short (2-minute) presentations to the rest of the group to develop their presentation skills. In addition seminar discussions will help students to develop their listening, explaining and debating skills, as well as team work and problem solving. The essay which the students will write will encourage them to develop their independent research, writing and IT skills. The examination will test students' analytical and writing skills under time constraints.

10 ECTS Credits