Prerequisite course for this course is: IM112E Caucasus Studies I (passed)

On the basis of the course Caucasus Studies I, which gives the student a broad knowledge of the Caucasus region with its ethnic groups and languages, history and recent political developments, the course Caucasus Studies II focuses on central issues in Post-Soviet Caucasus, including nation- and statebuilding, intrastate conflicts and migration processes.

The course develops the student’s understanding of processes related to the building of modern state structures and the construction of national identities in the politically complex and ethnically diverse Caucasus region.

The course is divided into four 7,5 ECTS modules:

1. Nation and State building in the Caucasus

2. Peoples and Languages of the Caucasus

3. Conflicts and Conflict resolution in the Caucasus

4. The Caucasus region: causes and consequences of migration

Following the module Nation and State building in the Caucasus the course offers further specialization into the study of peoples and languages of the Caucasus and the study of the region’s violent ethnopolitical conflicts in the Post-Soviet period and extensive migration flows. The module Peoples and languages of the Caucasus gives an overview of the multitude of languages and ethnic groups in the Caucasus region and relates this to state and nation building processes. The module Conflicts and conflict resolution in the Caucasus analyses a selection of violent ethnopolitical conflicts in the Caucasus region on the basis of existing conflict theories and models for conflict resolution.

For students who wish to focus on languages, there is an option to study a language of the Caucasus instead of one of the modules (3) and (4) (for learning outcomes and course literature of this module, see corresponding course plan of the language in question).

Knowledge and understanding

After finishing the course, the student shall:

• Have achieved knowledge of major approaches to nation- and statebuilding processes;

• have achieved understanding of general as well as specific problems related to nation- and statebuilding processes in the Caucasus region;

• demonstrate understanding of major theoretical approaches to violent intra-state conflicts and conflict resolution;

• demonstrate knowledge of area specific conflict generating factors;

• demonstrate understanding of specific as well as general problems related to conflict resolution in the Caucasus area;

• have achieved understanding of general as well as specific problems related to migration processes within and from the Caucasus region;

• have achieved knowledge of languages and religions of major ethnic groups and subgroups in the Caucasus region;

• have achieved knowledge of earlier and Post-Soviet language policies and minority rights;

• have achieved understanding of the role in society of the ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity of the Caucasus region.

Skills and abilities

After finishing the course, the student shall be able to:

• Demonstrate skills in applying theoretical tools in analyses of violent intrastate conflicts;

• reflect over the basic assumptions of different approaches to intrastate conflicts;

• critically assess possible solutions to intrastate conflicts based on, and implicit in, the theoretical approaches discussed in the course;

• demonstrate skills in applying theoretical tools to analyses of migration within and from the Caucasus region;

• critically reflect over the role in society of the ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity in the Caucasus region,

Critical skills and approach

After finishing the course, the student shall:

• Demonstrate an ability to evaluate sources and assess bias in material used as empirical evidence.

- online lectures

- online forum discussions

- mandatory assignments

- interactive exercises

- independent reading

- individual studies

Assessments are based on mandatory assignments, group or individual on-line presentations and short essays. The language module is assessed differently (cf. syllabus of the language course). The total grade for the course is the amalgamate grade of the (ECTS) grades obtained for the four course modules.

There are two resubmission possibilities for failed assignments/ presentation/ essays. Each examination moment will be resubmitted in the same form as the original examination.

The web-based course literature is accessible at Malmö University library to enrolled students.

Nation and State building

Pål Kolstø, Nation-building in Russia and the post-Soviet States.

2000 Boulder, Colorado: Westview press 2000, http://folk.uio.no/palk/ch02.htm#_ftn24

Arend Lijphart, ”Constitutional Design for Divided Societies”. Journal of Democracy 15, (April) 2004, p. 96-101. (e-journal)

Roeder, Philip G. (1999), ‘Peoples and States after 1989: The Political Costs of Incomplete National Revolutions’, Slavic Review 58(4), pp. 854–881.

Jack Snyder, “Nationalism and the Crisis of the Post-Soviet State,” Survival 35, 1, 1993: 12.

Yuriy Slezkine, “The USSR as a Communal Apartment, or How a Socialist State Promoted Ethnic Particularism,” Slavic Review 53, 2, 1994, pp. 414-452;

Theisen, Søren, Mountaineers, Racketeers and the Ideals of Modernity-Statebuilding and Elite Competition in Caucasia www.caucasus.dk/publication10.htm

Shils, Edward (1995), ‘Nation, Nationality, Nationalism and Civil Society’, Nations and Nationalism 1(1),

pp. 93–118.

Taras Kuzio “Transition in Post-Communist States:

Triple or Quadruple?” POLITICS: 2001 VOL 21(3), 168–177 (e-journal, Mah bibl.)

The course uses additional online resourses and articles of approx, 150 pages.

Reference literature

Walker Connor, Ethnonationalism. The Quest for Understanding (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994): 22-66. First published in 1972.

Goldenberg, Suzanne, Pride of Small Nations. The Caucasus and Post-Soviet Disorder. London, 1994.

Kalevi J. Holsti, The State,War, and the State of War. Cambridge University Press (82-122)

Dov Lynch, Engaging Eurasia’s Separatist States. Unresolved Conflicts and De Facto States, Washington, 2004.

Anthony D. Smith, National Identity. London, 1991 ( pp. 71-142)

Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Ethnicity & Nationalism. Antropological Perspectives, London, 1993, pp. 1-12.

Minahan, J. One Europe, Many Nations : A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000

http://site.ebrary.com.support.mah.se/lib/malmoe/docDetail.action?docID=10017990

Ronald Grigor Suny, The revenge of the past. Nationalism, Revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993).

Ronald Grigory Suny, The Making of the Georgian Nation, Bloomington, Ind., 1988.

Conflicts and conflict resolution in the Caucasus

Michael E. Brown, “The Causes of Internal Conflict”, in Michael E. Brown (ed) Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict. Revised Edition, London 2001.

http://support.mah.se/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2539045

Cornell, Svante, E., Small Nations and Great Powers. A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus, Curzon World, 2001, pp. 41-47. http://support.mah.se/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com/lib/malmoe/Doc?id=10094532 (Chapter on autonomy; chapters on Azerbaijan/Armenian/ Nagorno-Karabakh; Georgia)

David, Steven R., “Internal War Causes and Cures”, World Politics, 49.4 1997.

http://support.mah.se/login?url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/world_politics/v049/49.4er_brown.html

David and Patric James, “Escalation of ethnic conflict”, International Politics, 35, March 1998, pp. 65-82.

Faurby, Ib, "International Law, Human Rights and the Wars in Chechnya", Baltic Defence Review, No. 7, Volume 2002,

http://www.caucasus.dk/publication13.htm

Faurby Ib in co-operation with Märta-Lisa Magnusson,

"The Battle(s) of Grozny", Baltic Defence Review, No. 2, 1999, pp. 75-87. http://www.caucasus.dk/publication1.htm

Kaufmann, Chaim, “Possible and Impossible Solutions to Ethnic Civil Wars”, International Security, Vol. 20. No 4 (Spring) 1996.

http://support.mah.se/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2539045

Lake, David A. and Donald Rotchild, “Containing Fear. The Origins and Management of Ethnic Conflict”. International Security, Vol. 21, No. 2, 1996.

http://support.mah.se/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2539070

Magnusson, Märta-Lisa. Prospects for peace in Chechnya? In: Rita Grünenfelder und Heinz Krummenacher (Eds.) Searching for Peace in Chechnya – Swiss Initiatives and Experiences. swisspeace Annual Conference 2005. Conference Paper, 1/2006. www.swisspeace.ch/typo3/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/Conference_Paper/CP_2006Jahreskonferenz.pdf

Pozen, Barry, R., “The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict”, in: Michael E. Brown, Ethnic Conflict and International Security, Princetown University Press, 1993, pp. 103-124,

http://web.mit.edu/polisci/research/posen/posen_security_dilemma.pdf

Saideman, Stephan M, “Explaining the International Relations of Secessionist Conflicts: Vulnerabilities versus Ethnic Ties” International Organization 51, 4 Autumn 1997, pp. 721-53. (e-journal)

Walter, Barbara, “Explaining the Intractability of Territorial Conflict”, International Studies Review, Vol. 5(4), 2003, pp. 137-153.

Van Evera, Stephen, “Hypotheses on Nationalism and War”, International Security, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Spring), 1994, pp. (jstor)

Reference literature

Eide, Asbjørn, “In Search of Constructive Alternatives to Secession”, in: Tomuschat, Christian (ed.), Modern Law of Self-Determination, Martinus Nijhofff Publishers, London 1993.

Harff , Barbara & Ted Robert Gurr, Ethnic Conflict in World Politics, Westview Press, Oxford, 2004.

Kaufman, Stuart J., Modern Hatreds. The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War. Cornell Universtity Press, London 2001.

Krag, Helen and Lars Funch, The North Caucasus. Minorities at a Crossroads.

London 1994.

Miall, Hugh et.al. eds., Contemporary Conflict Resolution, The prevention, management and transformation of deadly conflicts. Cambridge, 1999.

Minahan, J. One Europe, Many Nations : A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000

http://site.ebrary.com.support.mah.se/lib/malmoe/docDetail.action?docID=10017990

Robertson, Lawrence, “The constructed nature of ethnopolitics”, International Politics, 34, September 1997.

Wallensteen, Peter, Understanding Conflict Resolution. War, Peace and the Global System. Second Edition. London, 2007

The web-based course literature is accessible at Malmö University library to enrolled students.

Russia’s War in Georgia, The Buildup, Course of Events, and Aftermath. Institute for Security and Development Policy. Central Asia-Caucasus & Silk Road Studies Program, 2008.

The course uses additional online resourses and articles of approx, 150 pages.

Peoples and languages of the Caucasus

Burbank, Jane, Von Hagen, Mark & Remnev, Anatolyi 2008, Russian Empire: Space, People, Power, 1700-1930 Indiana University Press

Chapter 8: From Region to Nation: The Don Cossacks 1870–1920

http://site.ebrary.com.support.mah.se/lib/malmoe/docDetail.action?docID=10225107&p00=caucasus

Catford, J.C. 1977. Mountain of Tongues: The Languages of the Caucasus

Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 6, (1977), pp. 283-314 (Jstor)

Grenoble, Lenore A. 2003 Language Policy in the Soviet Union

Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 35-64, 111-136

http://site.ebrary.com.support.mah.se/lib/malmoe/docDetail.action?docID=10067256&p00=caucasus,

Kobaidze, M. & K. Vamling. 2005. The Balance of Languages in Post-Soviet Georgia. In: A. Rabo & B. Utas (eds.) The Role of the State in West Asia, Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, Transactions, Stockholm, pp. 179-191.

Vladimir Lazarev and Ludmila Pravikova: The North Caucasus Bilingualism and Language Identity, Pyatigorsk State Linguistic University, , 20 p.

http://www.lingref.com/isb/4/103ISB4.PDF

Panossian, Razmik, 2006, Armenians, Columbia University Press, pp. 262-318.

http://site.ebrary.com.support.mah.se/lib/malmoe/docDetail.action?docID=10183605&p00=caucasus

Solchanyk, Roman, 1982, Russian Language and Soviet Politics, Soviet Studies, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 23-42 (access at Jstor)

Jonathan Wheatley: Georgia and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, June 2009, 53 pp., appendix

http://ecmi.de/download/working_paper_42_en.pdf

The module uses additional online resourses and articles of approx, 200 pages.

4. The Caucasus region: causes and consequences of migration

Greene, T. (1995): Dimensions of migration in Russia and the Caucasus, Refugee Policy Group (RPG) 47 pp. [online report]

Lewis Robert A. & Richard H. Rowland (1977): East is West and West is East... Population Redistribution in the USSR and Its Impact on Society. International Migration Review, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Spring, 1977), pp. 3-29. Publisher(s): The Center for Migration Studies of New York, Inc. (online jstor)

Polian, P. M. (2004): Against their will: the history and geography of forced migrations in the USSR / by Pavel Polian. Budapest ; New York: Central European University Press, 2004. [e-book]

Trier, T. & M. Turashvili (2007) Resettlement of Ecologically Displaced Persons

Solution of a Problem or Creation of a New? Eco-Migration in Georgia 1981 – 2006. European Center for Minority Issues. ECMI Monograph #6, 72 p. (online)

Wood, W. (1994): Forced migration: Local conflicts and international dilemmas. Annals of the Association of American Geographers; Dec94, Vol. 84 Issue 4, p607, 28p

The course uses additional online resourses and articles of approx, 150 pages.

Reference resources

Asylum – a common space of protection and solidarity. EU Commission Home Affairs website.

http://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/asylum/asylum_intro_en.htm

The 1951 Geneva refugee convention. (The UN Refugee Agency)

http://www.unhcr.org/protect/PROTECTION/3b66c2aa10.pdf

Protection of conflict-induced IDPs. Assessment for Action, 2008

http://www.unhcr.org/protect/PROTECTION/48849ac12.pdf

Minahan, J. One Europe, Many Nations : A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000

http://site.ebrary.com.support.mah.se/lib/malmoe/docDetail.action?docID=10017990

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.