UA / Excellent (A), Very Good (B), Good (C), Satisfactory (D), Pass (E) or Fail (U)
Language of instruction
English
Decision-making body
Faculty of Culture and Society
Syllabus approval date
2020-05-20
Syllabus valid from
2020-08-31
Entry requirements
Prerequisite course for this course is: IM112E Caucasus Studies I (passed)
Level
Basic level
No main field.
Progression level
G1N
Progression level in relation to degree requirements
The course can normally be included as a part of a general degree.
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to provide the students with in-depth knowledge and understanding of central issues pertaining to the Caucasus region as a field of study. The course will enable students to analyse processes related to state- and nation-building, ethnic and linguistic identities, intrastate conflicts, and patterns of migration in a complex and diverse region, and to take an independent critical stance in relation to ongoing academic debates in the field of Caucasus Studies.
Course contents
The course consists of four modules:
State- and Nation-building in the Caucasus (7,5 credits)
The module introduces and discusses theoretical and analytical approaches State- and Nation-building and applies these perspectives to empirical cases from post-Soviet Caucasus.
Peoples and Languages of the Caucasus (7,5 credits)
The module gives an overview of the linguistic diversity and multitude of ethnic groups in the Caucasus region and relates this to language policy and state and nation building processes.
Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus (7,5 credits)
The module focuses on the region’s ethnic conflicts and relates them to existing theories and tools for conflict management.
Causes and Consequences of Migration in the Caucasus (7,5 credits)
The module focuses on the extensive migration flows that have reshaped the demographic map of the region.
Learning outcomes
State- and Nation Building in the Caucasus
After completing the module the student will:
demonstrate knowledge and understanding of key theoretical approaches to state- and nation building;
be able to apply central concepts in analyses of empirical cases from post-Soviet Caucasus
be able to discuss general as well as specific problems related to state- and nation building processes in the Caucasus;
be able to recognize and critically evaluate academic and public debates related to state- and nation building in the Caucasus;
demonstrate an ability to master academic language and formalities, including referencing sources in an accurate and coherent manner;
demonstrate ability to complete assignments and exams within given timeframes and restrictions;
Peoples and Languages of the Caucasus
After completing the module the student will:
demonstrate knowledge of languages and religions of major ethnic groups and subgroups in the Caucasus region;
demonstrate knowledge of earlier and Post-Soviet language policies and minority rights;
demonstrate understanding of the role in society of the ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity of the Caucasus region;
critically reflect over societal and individual perspectives on the ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity in the Caucasus region;
demonstrate ability to master academic language and formalities, including referencing sources in an accurate and coherent manner;
demonstrate ability to complete assignments and exams within given timeframes and restrictions.
Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus
After completing the module the student will:
demonstrate empirical knowledge of ethnic conflicts and contested borders in the Caucasus;
demonstrate understanding of similarities and differences between ethnic conflicts in the Caucasus;
be able to account for different theoretical explanations to ethnic conflicts as well as different tools for managing them;
be able to assess the causes behind and potential solutions to ethnic conflicts in the Caucasus using established concepts and theoretical models;
demonstrate ability to master academic language and formalities, including referencing sources in an accurate and coherent manner;
demonstrate ability to complete assignments and exams within given timeframes and restrictions.
Causes and Consequences of Migration in the Caucasus
After completing the module the student will:
demonstrate empirical knowledge of population movements in the Caucasus;
demonstrate understanding of different categories of migration that have reshaped the demographic map of the region;
be able to account for and utilize fundamental concepts in the field of migration studies;
be able to assess the causes behind and consequences of population movements in the Caucasus;
demonstrate ability to master academic language and formalities, including referencing sources in an accurate and coherent manner;
demonstrate ability to complete assignments and exams within given timeframes and restrictions.
Learning activities
The course is designed as a full-time flexible distance study. Learning activities include online lectures; mandatory quizzes and assignments; interactive exercises; online forum discussions; and web seminars. The majority of the student’s workload consists of independent reading and study.
Assessment
State- and Nation Building in the Caucasus
The student’s performance in the module is assessed by individual written assignments.
Learning outcomes 1-6 are assessed by a portfolio of mandatory assignments (2,5 credits)
Learning outcomes 1-6 are assessed by an individual take-home exam (5 credits)
Peoples and Languages of the Caucasus
The student’s performance in the module is assessed by individual written assignments.
Learning outcomes 1-6 are assessed by a portfolio of mandatory assignments (2,5 credits)
Learning outcomes 1-6 are assessed by an individual take-home exam (5 credits)
Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus
The student’s performance in the module is assessed by individual written assignments.
Learning outcomes 1-6 are assessed by a portfolio of mandatory assignments (2,5 credits)
Learning outcomes 1-6 are assessed by an individual take-home exam (5 credits)
Causes and Consequences of Migration in the Caucasus
The student’s performance in the module is assessed by individual written assignments.
Learning outcomes 1-6 are assessed by a portfolio of mandatory assignments (2,5 credits)
Learning outcomes 1-6 are assessed by an individual take-home exam (5 credits)
Grading system
Portfolios are graded with Pass (G) or Fail (U)
Take-home exams are graded with Excellent (A), Very Good (B), Good (C), Satisfactory (D), Pass (E) or Fail (U).
The course grade is calculated as the amalgamate of the grades obtained in the individual modules.
Course literature and other study material
1. State and Nation-building in the Caucasus
Cornell, Svante E. 2015. Azerbaijan Since Independence. Armonk, UK: Taylor and Francis. [Selected chapters]
Hille, Charlotte. 2010. State Building and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus. Leiden: Brill. [Selected chapters]
Holsti, Kalevi J. 1996. The State, War, and the State of War. Cambridge University Press. Pp. 82-122
Kolstø, Pål & Helge Blakkisrud. 2008. “Living with Non-recognition: State and Nationbuilding in South Caucasian Quasi-states”, Europe Asia Studies, 60(3): 484-509.
Kolstø, Pål. 1996. “Nation-building in the former USSR”, Journal of Democracy, 7(1): 118-132
Kuzio, Taras. 2001. “Transition in Post-Communist States: Triple or Quadruple?” Politics, 21(3): 168–177.
Mitchell, Lincoln A. 2009. “Compromising democracy: State building in Saakashvili’s Georgia”. Central Asian Survey, 28(2):171-183
Panossian, Ramzik. 2006. “Post Soviet Armenia: Nationalism & its (Dis)Contents”, in: Barrington Lowell, After Independence. Making and Protecting the Nation in Postcolonial and Post Communist States. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Pp. 225-247.
Polese, Abel & Rekhviashvili, Lela (Eds.). 2017. “Informality and power in the South Caucasus.” Caucasus Survey, 5(1).
Reddaway et. al. 2004. “The War in Chechnya as a Paradigm of Russian State-building under Putin”, Post-Soviet Affairs 20, 1. Pp. 10-19.
2. Peoples and Languages of the Caucasus
Bedford, Sofie and Emil Aslan Souleimanov. 2016. Under construction and highly contested: Islam in the post-Soviet Caucasus. Third World Quarterly, 2016, Vol. 37, No. 9, 1559–1580.
Catford, J.C. 1977. Mountain of Tongues: The Languages of the Caucasus. Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 6, (1977), pp. 283-314.
Charles, Robia. 2010. Religiosity in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Caucasus Analytical Digest. No 20: Religion in the South Caucasus, 2010. pp. 2-6.
Comrie, Bernard. 2008. Linguistic Diversity in the Caucasus. Annual Review of Anthropology; 2008, Vol. 37, Issue 1, pp. 131-143.
Grenoble, Lenore A. 2003. Language Policy in the Soviet Union. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Pavlenko, Aneta. 2008. Multilingualism in Post-Soviet Countries: Language Revival, Language Removal, and Sociolinguistic Theory. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Volume 11, Issue 3-4, pp. 275-314.
3. Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus
Broers, Laurence. 2009. David and Goliath and Georgians in the Kremlin: a post-colonial perspective on conflict in post-Soviet Georgia in Central Asian Survey 28 (2): 99-118.
Gerrits, André & Max Bader. 2015. Russian patronage over Abkhazia and South Ossetia: implications for conflict resolution in East European Politics 32 (3): 297-313.
Kaufman, Stuart. 2001. Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
Kaufmann, Chaim. 1996. Possible and Impossible Solutions to Ethnic Civil Wars in International Security 20 (4): 136-175.
Posen, Barry. 1993. The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict in Survival 35 (1): 27-47.
Siroky, David. 2011. Explaining Secession (pp. 45-80) in Aleksandar Pavkovic & Peter Radan (eds.) The Ashgate Research Companion to Secession. Burlington: Ashgate.
Souleimanov, Emil. 2015. An ethnography of counterinsurgency: kadyrovtsy and Russia's policy of Chechenization in Post-Soviet Affairs 31 (2): 91-114.
Varshney, Ashutosh. 2007. Ethnicity and Ethnic Conflict (pp. 274-294) in Carles Boix & Susan Carol Stokes (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4. The Caucasus Region: Causes and Consequences of Migration
Dermendzhieva, Zvezda. 2011. Emigration from the South Caucasus: who goes abroad and what are the economic implications? in Post-Communist Economies 23 (3): 377-398.
Holland, Edward. 2016. Economic Development and Subsidies in the North Caucasus in Problems of Post-Communism 63 (1): 50-61.
Kreiten, Irma. 2009. A colonial experiment in cleansing: the Russian conquest of Western Caucasus, 1856-65 in Journal of Genocide Research 11 (2/3): 213-241.
Lewis, Robert & Richard Rowland. 1977. East is West and West is East: Population Redistribution in the USSR and Its Impact on Society in The International Migration Review 11 (1): 3-29.
Martin, Terry. 1998. The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing in Journal of Modern History 70 (4): 813-861.
Polian, Pavel. 2004. Against Their Will: The History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR. Budapest: Central European University Press.
Sammut, Dennis. 2001. Population Displacement in the Caucasus: An Overview in Central Asian Survey 20 (1): 55-62.
Course evaluation
All students are given the opportunity to comment the course at the end of the term in an online survey. A compilation of the results will be available on the university computer net. Students are also given the opportunity to offer oral feedback at various points earlier in the term.