Module description
This module will focus on Russia’s war in Ukraine and provide students with the understanding of the historical antecedents of the war, of the social and political transformations occurring during the war and the reactions to war in the Global South, the West, Ukraine and Russia. Besides the focus on the ongoing war and its repercussions, the module will explore the issues of leadership, nation-building, and knowledge construction in social sciences and humanities through the lens of the war in Ukraine.
As such, the module combines the focus on the current events with the broader knowledge and inter-disciplinary research in history, politics, sociology, psychology, anthropology and international relations. It uses individual level perspectives along with domestic and global level perspectives to approach the main topics. The readings incorporate the most recent books and research published in relation to the war.
Assessment details
Participation - 10%
900-word Op-Ed - 40%
2500-word research essay - 50%
Educational aims & objectives
Russia’s War in Ukraine will impart a familiarity with the sources, processes, and consequences of war that started with Russia’s annexation of Crimea and culminated in the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The module will cover history of Russia-Ukraine relationships before the Soviet period, during the Soviet period and during the Ukrainian independence, since 1991.
The module will attend to political and social processes in Russia as the Kremlin prepared for war with Ukraine.
The module will explore the reactions to war and issues of societal resilience in Ukraine, defensive consolidation in Russia, reactions in the Global South and solidarity in the West.
As such, the educational aims of the module are:
- To impart to students a comprehensive knowledge of the sources and consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine including:
- The historical and political processes and antecedents in Ukraine and Russia that prepared the ground for the current war;
- The issues of leadership – in Ukraine and Russia – explored through the help of social psychology and social identity theory;
- The international implications of this war for the West and the countries of the Global South and the reaction to this war in different societies outside the region;
- The reaction to this war in Ukraine and in Russia;
- To impart to students an awareness of the politics of knowledge formation and the sources of epistemological injustices that this war has brought attention to;
- To instil in students an appreciation of the challenges of rigorous research and the establishment of causality, both from academic and policy analysis perspectives;
- To instil in students an appreciation of the complexities of research and argument that cross both disciplinary and cultural boundaries; and to encourage students to engage critically with received theory and argument.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students should have:
- A knowledge of historical and political drivers of Russia's war in Ukraine;
- A firm grasp of global, regional and domestic implications of the war;
- An understanding of different approaches to leadership and the social psychology of leadership in Ukraine and Russia;
- An understanding of the underlying reasons of different reactions to war in the West and the Global South;
- An understanding of main factors driving public opinion formation in Russia in relation to the war in Ukraine;
- An ability to analyse the geopolitical drivers and consequences of Russia's war in Ukraine;
- An increased awareness of the colonial character of Russia's war in Ukraine and the ability to analyse the war and its reasons through the analytical lens of post-colonial theory;
- An understanding of the injustices and structural drivers in the process of knowledge production in social sciences and humanities – as revealed in the context of Russia's war in Ukraine;
- A familiarity with the most recent publications in relation to the ongoing war, its causes and its effects;
- Greater competence in laying out the causes of the ongoing war, how the war might end and the prospects for peace, democracy, and better governance in the region;
- Greater confidence in speaking, discussing, and writing with respect to facts, theories, and opinions on matters of political, social, and economic import as well as in being able to read and to digest approximately 100 pages of academic texts each week for a module
Teaching pattern
Weekly 1-hour lecture & 1-hour seminar