War in Ukraina Contested - APOV50434

• Title: War in Ukraina Contested
• Guaranteed by: Institute of Political Science (21-UPOL)
• Faculty: Faculty of Arts
• Actual: from 2023
• Semester: winter
• Points: 3
• E-Credits: 4
• Examination process: winter s.:
• Hours per week, examination: winter s.:0/2, C [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / unknown (30)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: yes / 30
• State of the course: not taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: prof. Dr. Pavel Barša, M.A., Ph.D.

Annotation

Last update: Mgr. Adéla Rádková, Ph.D. (12.10.2022)

When Vladimir Putin’s Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the debate broke out in the West about the causes of the war. One school of thought represented by John J. Mearshemer, the leading author of the realist school in International Relations, blamed the war on the West, more concretely, on the successive waves of the enlargement of the NATO which brought the Western alliance ever closer to Russia. The Putin’s war was depicted as a preemptive move whose purpose was to block Western advance to Russia’s western border. According to Mearsheimer, far from being a crazy dictator possessed by imperialistic delusions, Putin followed the rational path of Great Power politics. Western readiness to include Ukraine in the NATO did not give him any other option than attack it and deter the West from doing it.<br>
Mearsheimer’s argument was used by Western Far Left and Far Right to advocate neutrality towards the war in Ukraine. The Western mainstream opinion, however, bought into two opposite narratives which assigned the responsibility for the war unambiguously to Russia. One, expressed already in the 1990s by Zbigniew Brzezinski, did not deduce Russia’s behavior from the Great Power rivalry but rather from its identity as an empire. In order to prevent Russia from expanding and threatening its neighbors, the NATO should move to its border. The same strategy which for Mearsheimer amounted to provoking Russia’s aggressive behavior was presented by Brzezinski as the only way how to stop it. <br>
The third school of thought agreed with Brzezinski on the last point albeit for different reasons. Instead of seeing in Russian imperialism the ultimate cause of Russia’s aggressivity Timothy Snyder conceived it as following from its authoritarianism. It was not the Russian external posture which was the problem but rather its internal regime: unless Russia becomes liberal democracy, the world will not be a safe place.

Aim of the course

Last update: Mgr. Adéla Rádková, Ph.D. (12.10.2022)

The puzzle of the Course is the following: even if the first position defined the relationship of the West with Russia in an opposite way than the other two positions, the representatives of all three camps took the Russia’s aggression of Ukraine on February 24 as a proof that they had been right all the way. The course will present each position with one political statement and three chapters from a book which can be taken as its more academic substantiation and/or elaboration.

Course completion requirements

English

Last update: Mgr. Adéla Rádková, Ph.D. (12.10.2022)

Participation in class discussions, one oral presentation of readings and final written examination (for those students who want to be graded).

 

Czech

Last update: Mgr. Václav Paštěka (30.11.2023)

This is a pass/fail seminar. To pass, students are expected to participate in class discussions, engage with the readings via mini home assignments and submit the final essay by the deadline.

Students from outside of Charles University that need a grade in order to have their credits acknowledged at their respective universities, will receive a grade. Points will be composed of essay (70%), home works (15%) and in-class activity (15%). (See this link for grading equivalency rules).

Home assignments: due before each class. To ensure the students’ engagement with the literature, they will be expected to submit a brief comment (one paragraph to maximum one page) before each class where they will interact with the reading assigned for the respective class in one of the following ways (according to individual preference):

a) critically challenging the views expressed in the reading (e.g., identifying gaps, contradictions, opposing views, the validity of the argument, etc.),

b) reflecting on the problem discussed (e.g., by identifying further questions, discussing one’s personal take on the issue, etc.), or

c) discussing the central arguments and key concepts in the reading.

Assigned readings will be made available beforehand.

Final essay: The final exam will take the form of an original research essay on a topic of the students’ choice, with previous consultation with the lecturer. The take-home essay should contain between 3,000 and 5,000 words (including references and all figures and annotations). Due by 10 June 2022 at midnight.

Masters students: between 3,000 and 5,000 words (including references and all figures and annotations).

Bachelor students: 1,500 - 2,000 words (including references and all figures and annotations)

Literature

Last update: Mgr. Adéla Rádková, Ph.D. (12.10.2022)

See syllabus below for mandatory literature.

Syllabus

Last update: Mgr. Adéla Rádková, Ph.D. (12.10.2022)

1)                  Introduction

2)                  John J. Mearsheimer, The Causes and Consequences of the Ukraine War, 6 June 2022, Robert Schumann Centre of EUI (available at YouTube). (See also Why is Ukraine the West’s Fault, University of Chicago, May 29, 2015, YouTube).

3)                  M. E. Sarotte, America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate, Yale University Press, New Haven 2021, Introduction.

4)                  Ibid. Chapter 6: Rise and Fall

5)                  Ibid. Conclusion: The New Times

6)                  Zbigniew Brzezinski, Premature Partnership, 1994, Foreign Affairs March/April 1994 (available on the web)

7)                  Serhii Plokhy, Lost Kingdom. The Quest of Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation. From 1470 to the Present, Basic Books, New York 2017, Part III, The Tripartite Nation

8)                  Ibid. Part V, The Unbreakable Union.

9)                  Ibid. Part VI, The New Russia

10)              The War in Ukraine & the Future of the World - Yuval Noah Harari & Timothy Snyder, 3/8/2022 (YouTube) and Timothy Snyder, Ukraine Holds the Future: The War Between Democracy and Nihilism, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2022, Ukraine Holds the Future: The War Between Democracy and Nihilism (foreignaffairs.com) 

11)              Timothy Snyder, The Road to Freedom. Russia, Europe, America, Tim Duggan Books, New York 2018, Chapter 1, Individualism or Totalitarianism

12)              Ibid. Chapter 2, Succession or Failure

13)              Ibid. Chapter 3.

Requisites for virtual mobility

Last update: Mgr. Jan Bíba, Ph.D. (30.06.2022)

The course is intended primarily for MA-level students in the disciplines of sociology, political science, international relations, anthropology, social policy, human/social geography, security studies, and related disciplines, as well as in more specialized interdisciplinary fields such as migration studies, ethnic and racial studies, gender studies, nationalism and ethnicity studies, and related fields. The course is open free of charge to students from all 4EU+ members (Charles, Heidelberg and Sorbonne universities, as well as the universities of Copenhagen, Milan and Warsaw) as well as affiliated universities (University of Zürich, Macquarie University, University of St Andrews). Previous knowledge on the subject is advantageous, but not necessary. Good knowledge of English (reading, writing and speaking) is mandatory.