Final Syllabus
Putin’s Russia
Fall 2016
Copenhagen
3 credits
Related Disciplines: History, Political Science, International Relations
Faculty Member: Martin Rasmussen
Program Director: Neringa Vendelbo
Program Assistant: Alex Berlin
Tuesdays & Fridays: 8:30 – 9:50
Classroom: V10-A14
Description of course: In this course we will learn about the largest country in the world: Russia- a major
player on the international scene, just a two hour flight from Denmark. We start out with a focus on President
Putin and his inner circle, moving out into Russian society, economy, media and politics. With flashbacks into
Russia’s dramatic history, we study the “Russian nightmares,” i.e. the cases when Russia has been close to
disintegration, and use these cases as well as simulation games as a lens through which we understand and
discuss the Russia of today.
Putin’s Russia | DIS | Related Disciplines: History, Political Science, International Relations
Final Syllabus
Learning objectives of the course: The course is relevant for all but has strong focus on history, international
relations, political science, security policy, war and clandestine operations, media policy and social affairs. By
the end of this course, you will be able to identify and analyze the specific ways in which Russian society,
economy and politics differ from what we know in the West. You will develop your skills in analysis, writing,
using simulation approaches as an analyzing tool, as well as critically selecting and presenting central issues
related to these fields and to the understanding of Russia. Finally, your research paper will help you become
an expert in a selected area of Russian politics and society.
Instructor: Martin Cleemann Rasmussen
MA (Russian and History, University of Copenhagen 2004, graduated on Civil-Military relations in Russia, 199399). Associate professor at the Royal Danish Officer Academy (2011- ), Senior Advisor NordGEN at the
Nordic Council of Ministers 2005-2009 on Russia and the CIS, Exchange Student, Odessa (Ukraine), and St.
Petersburg (1996-1997), Associate Professor Nordic Council of Ministers Petrazavodsk State University
1998. Various positions as translator and as leader on many visits to Russia by Danish and foreign students and
tourist groups as well as on several battle field tours. Lectures to the general public as well as used as analyst
on Russian matters in Danish news media. With DIS since 2015.
Approach to Teaching: We meet as a class to exchange opinions and learn about Russia. We will mix student
presentations and briefs with story-telling lectures, discussions, and political/military roleplay and simulations
that allow us to develop our individual opinions and advance our knowledge on the subject.
Expectations of the students: Students are expected to take an active part in the working process. This means
that you show up for class in time, are well prepared and have read ALL the relevant texts before class, hand in
work in time, ask questions, and engage actively in debate and class with your professor and your fellow
students. In order to receive an excellent grade you will need to demonstrate a critical approach to the
material, question what others take for granted, and produce texts and briefs that make critical statements. A
substantial amount of reading between classes is to be expected.
With regular intervals, we have a “current affair”-class. Using role-plays, simulation gaming and short
presentations students are responsible for presenting short and analytical briefings and inputs to the class on
central issues from the news and opinions that have come out of Russia since the previous “Current Affair”class. For these classes we all read Russian and international news media and commentators.
Evaluation: (see appendix A for details)
 Midterm exam: 25% (Subject/speech analysis)
 Final exam: 25% (Subject/speech writing)
 Thesis statement for research paper: 10% (You present your research paper project)
 Research paper: 25% (You choose your own topic, find relevant literature and present a critical
analysis)
 Participation: 15% (Your attendance, contribution to discussions and student presentations on the
current affair-briefs)
Putin’s Russia | DIS | Related Disciplines: History, Political Science, International Relations
Final Syllabus
Field Studies:
 Wednesday, 31 Aug (8.30-12.30). Visit to the Danish Defense Academy
 Wednesday, 19 Oct (13.00-17.00): Visit to the Russian Embassy
Guest Lectures:
 “Intelligence and Espionage during the Cold War and Today” by Commander Royal Danish Navy (Ret)
Poul Gross and Major Danish Army Niels Vistesen
 “Russian propaganda and media strategies” by Jon Kyst; Senior Advisor, Russia Expert
with European Union External Action
DIS Policies
Class representatives: Class Representatives will be elected at the beginning of the semester. Reps are
responsible for listening to the opinions of their fellow classmates and communicating these to me or the
program assistant.
Attendance: You are expected to attend all DIS classes when scheduled. If you miss multiple classes the Director
of Teaching and Learning, and the Director of Student Affairs will be notified and they will follow-up with you to
make sure that all is well. Absences will jeopardize your grade and your standing at DIS. Allowances will be made
in cases of illness, but in the case of multiple absences you will need to provide a doctor’s note.
Academic Honesty: Plagiarism and Violating the Rules of an Assignment
DIS expects that students abide by the highest standards of intellectual honesty in all academic work. DIS
assumes that all students do their own work and credit all work or thought taken from others. Academic
dishonesty will result in a final course grade of “F” and can result in dismissal. The students’ home universities
will be notified. DIS reserves the right to request that written student assignments be turned in electronic form
for submission to plagiarism detection software. See the Academic Handbook for more information, or ask your
instructor if you have questions.
Electronic Devices in the Classroom: The use of electronic devices is restricted to note-taking during lectures
and field studies.
Disability and resource statement: Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a
disability should contact Sean Green ([email protected]) to coordinate this. In order to receive accommodations,
students should inform the instructor of approved DIS accommodations within the first two weeks of classes.
Course Schedule
The class has 23 class sessions, two-three guest lectures, and 1-2 field studies. Approx. every fourth class is a
“current affairs – presidential briefs”/simulation approach-class, where students present short and analytical
oral briefs (max. 10 minuttes each) for the class based on the latest news from Russia, cf.. The briefs will be
followed by a discussion in class led by the briefing students. In the simulation approaches students will simulate
and roleplay political and/or political decision makers on key subjects related to Russian affairs.
Putin’s Russia | DIS | Related Disciplines: History, Political Science, International Relations
Final Syllabus
Schedule is subject to change if necessary with as much notice as possible.
1. Friday, 26 Aug: Introduction – Is Russia a part of Europe? What role does Russia play in international
relations? (Reading: Bartlett, pp. 1-10, “The Geographical Setting.” )
2. Tuesday, 30 Aug: Vladimir Putin – a portrait. Reading: Gessen 2012, pp. 11-22, 43-100, Sakwa pp. 223231; TV interview with Vladimir Putin (ARD, 17 November, 2014).
3. Wed, 31 Aug: Field Study : Danish Defense Academy
4. Friday, 2 Sep: The inner circle – the oligarchs and the siloviki. Reading: Dawisha, 266-312
Election of class representatives
5. Tuesday, 6 Sep: Russia’s Nightmares I: The loss of the Soviet Union. Reading: Brodsky.
6. Friday, 9 Sep: “Current Affairs I – Presidential briefs ”
12 Sep – 17 Sep: Short Study Tour/Core Course Week
7. Tuesday, 20 Sep: The Ukraine and Crimea events, or How close are we to a war with Russia? Reading:
Putin’s 2014 speech on Crimea; Lucas, pp. 169-210, Freedman pp. 7-38. Watch before class” Inside the
War Room
8. Friday, 23 Sep: The Ukraine and Crimea events, or How close are we to a war with Russia? (Continued)
Reading: Lucas, pp. 211-260, Kroenig pp. 49-70.
9. Tuesday, 27 Sep: “Current Affairs II”. “The war in Ukraine” – a simulation approach
10. Friday, 30 Sep: Russia’s Nightmares II: World War 2, or The Great patriotic War.
Reading: Putin’s 2015 speech, Wilson Center pp 1-7, Order 227 and Stone pp. 191-217.
11. Tuesday, 4 Oct: Corruption and oil and gas economy.
Reading: Gessen, pp. 227-260
12. Friday, 7 Oct: Russian media – between state control and opposition; between tabloid and highbrow;
between English and Russian. Reading: Pomerantsev, pp. 41-59; “Russian media Independent
Compass” http://calvertjournal.com/features/show/2234/russian-media-independent-compass
8 Oct – 16 Oct: Long Study Tour 1/Travel Break
13. Tuesday, 18 Oct: “Midterm 24 hour exam. You receive the text in class and hand in your analysis 24
hours later.
14. Wednesday 19 Oct: Field Study Visit to the Russian Embassy (TBA)
15. Friday, 21 Oct: Guest lecture I: “Intelligence and Espionage during the Cold War and Today.” by
Commander Royal Danish Navy (Ret) Poul Gross and Major Danish Army Niels Vistesen (TBA).
16. Tuesday, 25 Oct: “Current affairs III “Opening Pandoras Box” – Simulating crisis management in modern
day Russia”
17. Friday, 28 Oct: The Pussy Riot case – freedom of expression in modern Russia.
Reading: Gessen 2014, pp. 1-96.
29 Oct – 6 November: Long Study Tour 2/Travel Break
18. Tuesday, 8 Nov: The Pussy Riot case – freedom of expression in modern Russia (cont.). Reading: Gessen
2014, pp. 97-226
Putin’s Russia | DIS | Related Disciplines: History, Political Science, International Relations
Final Syllabus
19. Friday, 11 Nov: Guest Lecture II by Jon Kyst; Senior Advisor, Russia Expert with European Union External
Action; Topic: Russian propaganda and media strategies (TBA)
20. Tuesday, 15 Nov: A new approach? Russia, Central Asia, Caucasus, India and China. Reading: Younkyoo,
pp.275-286..
21. Friday, 18 Nov: Current affairs IV” Reflecting Russia and Central Asia – a gaming approach to The Great
Game
22. Tuesday, 22 Nov: “Current Affairs V – Presidential brief”. Final paper thesis statement handed in
23 November – 27 November: Travel Break
23. Tuesday, 29 Nov: What will the future bring? A dystopic vision by a Russian writer. Reading: Sorokin
24. Friday, 2 Dec: : Russia’s Nightmares III: Boris Godunov, or: What brings the enemy to the
gates? We watch and discuss excerpts from Musorgsky’s opera, Boris Godunov. Reading:
Emerson, pp. 1-30
25. Tuesday, 6 Dec: Class reflections: What have we learned? Final research paper handed in.
End of semester: Final exam TBA
Background readings:
Bartlett, Roger. A History of Russia. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005
Brodsky, Joseph. “In a Room and a Half.” In: Less Than One. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 1986.
Dawisha, Karen. Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? Simon and Schuster, New York, 2014
Emerson, Caryl. Boris Godunov: Transpositions of a Russian Theme. Indiana University press, Bloomington and
Indianapolis, 1986
Freedman, Lawrence. Ukraine and the art of limited war In Survival: Global Politics
and Strategy, pp 7-38, 25 nov. 2014.
Gessen, Masha. The Man without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin. Granta, London and New York,
2012
Gessen, Masha. Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot. Riverhead Books, New York, 2014
Kroenig, Matthew: Facing reality – Getting NATO ready for a New Cold War in Survival: Global Politics
and Strategy, feb-march 2015.
Lucas, Edward. The New Cold War: Putin's Threat to Russia and the West. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014
Pomerantsev, Peter. Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: Adventures in Modern Russia. Faber & Faber,
London, 2015
Sakwa, Richard. Putin Redux: Power and Contradiction in Contemporary Russia. Routledge, London and New
York, 2014
Putin’s Russia | DIS | Related Disciplines: History, Political Science, International Relations
Final Syllabus
Stone, David. “A Military History of Russia – From Ivan the Terrible to the War in Chechnya, Praeger Security
Int. 2006.
Younkyoo, Kim. The new great game in Central Asia post 2014: The US “New Silk Road” strategy and SinoRussian rivalry in Communist and Post-Communist Studies, June 2013.
Speeches and TV-interviews:
Address by President Putin to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in 2005
http://archive.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2005/04/25/2031_type70029type82912_87086.shtml
Speech by President Putin at the Munich Security Conference in 2007
http://archive.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2007/02/10/0138_type82912type82914type82917type84779_11812
3.shtml
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin "A new integration project for Eurasia: The future in the making" 3 October 2011
http://www.russianmission.eu/en/news/article-prime-minister-vladimir-putin-new-integration-projecteurasia-future-making-izvestia-3Speech by President Putin at the Valdai International Discussion Club in 2013
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/19243
Speech by President Putin on Crimea’s return to Russia in 2014
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/20603
TV interview with Vladimir Putin (ARD, 17 November, 2014).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdlXqyZHB9k
Speech by President Putin on the 70th Anniversary of the Victory in World War 2, 9 May, 2015
http://www.globalresearch.ca/transcript-of-russias-president-vladimir-putins-v-day-speech-70th-anniversaryof-victory-in-the-great-patriotic-war/5448502
BBC-documentary “inside the war room”, 2015
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v100958706dgM8wMZd
Archival sources
Wilson Center, Digital Archive. September 01, 1939. Secret Supplementary Protocols of the MolotovRibbentrop Non-Aggression Pact, 1939.
https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/110994.pdf?v=61e7656de6c925c23144a7f96330517d
Stalin, Josef. Order 227, 28th July, 1942
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Order_No._227_by_the_People%27s_Commissar_of_Defence_of_the_USSR
Putin’s Russia | DIS | Related Disciplines: History, Political Science, International Relations
Final Syllabus
Maps
Gilbert, Martin. “The Dent Atlas of Russian History – from 800 BC to the Present Day”, 1993
Works of fiction:
Sorokin, Vladimir. Day of the Oprichnik. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. New York, 2006.
Musical sources:
Musorgsky, Modest. Boris Godunov (opera, excerpts shown in class).
Putin’s Russia | DIS | Related Disciplines: History, Political Science, International Relations
Final Syllabus
Appendix A
Your grade in this course is determined through 5 interrelated elements. The dates and the overall guidelines
incl. some examples are presented below. Note that these may be subject to slight changes.
1. MIDTERM EXAM GUIDELINE (Subject/speech analysis. 25%)
Date: October 18th
Deadline: October 19th
Midterm 24 hour exam. You will receive the text in class and hand in your analysis 24 hours later.
The maximum score is 100 points.
A: Factual questions (worth 40 points) Given in class
10 short answer questions on some of the key facts and concepts in the readings/discussed in class/FS.
Example: “Name the 14 former Soviet Republics (using their present name), that are now sovereign countries in
Russia’s near abroad.
B: Subject /speech analysis (worth 60 points) 24 hour take-home exam
In approx. 3-5 pages, answer one of the 2-3 analytical questions posed regarding central topics or features of
Russian politics and society. Every page more than 5 deducts one letter grade (e.g. A to A-). One page equals
300 words. Use ”Writing Papers at DIS” as your guideline. See “How to write a paper”, by Stephen Van Evera
(both found on Canvas).
Example 1: “Briefly describe the Pussy Riot-case. Discuss its influence on Russian domestic and foreign policy. “
Example 2:”Briefly present the major issues raised in Putin’s speech. Discuss the main means/rhetoric used by
the president in his speech and discuss the possible reasons and/or consequences of this.
Your answers
When answering the factual questions it is important to be precise. When answering the essay-type questions
it is important that you give discursive and analytical answers using relevant arguments.
2. THESIS STATEMENT FOR RESEARCH PAPER (10%). GUIDELINE
Deadline: November 22nd
Select a subject, and in 1-2 pages (every page more than 2 deducts one grade), create an outline showing how
you plan to address your subject. Include proposals for main literature and a proposed work schedule until
delivery (see below). Be as specific as possible. One page equals 300 words. Groups of max 2 students are
allowed.
3. RESEARCH PAPER (25% ). Guideline
Deadline: December 6th
In accordance with your thesis statement, present a critical analysis of the subject chosen. Make sure to
support your argument using literature/other sources relevant to the subject. The approx. length is 8-9 pages
incl. abstract, but excluding your list of literature and appendixes (MAX 3 appendixes). Every page more than 9
deducts one grade. If choosing to work in a group, the length becomes 15-16 pages (MAX 3 appendixes). Every
page more than 16 deducts one grade.
One page equals 300 words. Use ”Writing Papers at DIS” as your guideline. See “How to write a paper”, by
Stephen Van Evera on Canvas.
Putin’s Russia | DIS | Related Disciplines: History, Political Science, International Relations
Final Syllabus
Abstract
One separate page (max.), attached to the Research paper. (I will keep the abstract after handing the paper
back to you). Content: Your name; Title of the paper; What is the paper about and what is the focus of the
paper; What is the main content and findings; What came out of the paper: conclusion and perspectives.
4. FINAL EXAM (25%). Guideline
Date: TBA
The maximum score is 100 points.
This exam consist of 2 parts (A and B). Part A follows the format of the midterm exam. B is related to your
ability to present an analytical paper, a substansive and precise brief or write a speech.
A) Factual questions (worth 40 points). 10 short answer questions on some of the key facts and concepts
in the readings/discussed in class or on field studies.
B) Subject, brief or speech analysis (worth 60 points)
2-3 analytical questions (only one is to be chosen) on central topics or features of Russian politics and
society or a brief or speech for a top-politician.
Example: The president needs to be briefed on the pro- and cons concerning economic sanctions against
Russia in relation to the war in Ukraine. Write a concise and analytical brief.
Example: The president wishes to give a speech to the Russian public on potential NATO-expansion into
Russia´s near abroad. Write the speech, - Drawing on elements and themes covered in class/FS and on
elements from Russia´s history, rhetoric, national character etc.
5. Participation (15%). Guidelines
Your participation grade will be evaluated based on attendance, active contribution to discussions, student
presentations/briefs, as well as having read the assigned texts and being prepared for class.
Putin’s Russia | DIS | Related Disciplines: History, Political Science, International Relations