Module description
The module will analyse security threats in Post-Soviet Eurasia theoretically as well as engage in extensive empirical analysis of these threats, critically assessing their implication for regional and international politics and security. The module will cover three Caucasian (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan), five Central Asian (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkemnistan), three ‘new Eastern European’ (Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus) and three Baltic (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) states in order to reach a better understanding of the commonalities and differences across the post-Soviet space.
The module will also introduce the students to current debates on the definition of security, competing theoretical perspectives in the security literature and the related concepts (securitisation, risk society, etc). After an introduction to key theoretical paradigms, the module will examine specific threats and risks. Apart from the empirical and region-specific discussion, the students will also learn about cutting-edge research in the studies of terrorism, corruption, organised crime, insurgency and other threats.
Assessment details
- 1,500 word policy paper (35%)
- 3,000 word essay (55%)
- Class participation (10%)
Educational aims & objectives
This module aims to introduce key debates present in the security literature and to discuss the main threats and risks that confront the post-Soviet region. Additionally, the students will be instructed to identify and analyse any other emerging threats in the region that are not covered by weekly lectures/seminars.
Hence the aim of the proposed module is:
- to discuss various theoretical approaches to analysing threats and risks
- to examine these different threats empirically in great detail
- to identify emerging threats
Learning outcomes
At the end of the module students will:
- Demonstrate a deep and systematic knowledge about the theories of security and contemporary research on security-related concepts and approaches;
- Apply knowledge creatively to different contexts, and across time and space;
- Select advanced methodological and theoretical approaches to understand the role, nature and dimensions of new and emerging security threats general as well as in post-Soviet Eurasia particularly;
- Evaluate critically advanced scholarship in the field of emerging security threats, develop critiques thereof and propose new hypotheses.
- Develop critiques of policy issues pertaining to new and emerging security threats in post-Soviet Eurasia and beyond
Teaching pattern
Weekly 1-hour lecture & 1-hour seminar
Suggested reading list
- De Waal, T. (2018). The Caucasus: an introduction. Oxford University Press.
- Cummings, S. N. (2013). Understanding Central Asia: politics and contested transformations. Routledge.
- Lane, T., Pabriks, A., Purs, A., & Smith, D. J. (2013). The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Routledge.