HISTORY OF EURASIA: RUSSIA, CAUCASUS, CENTRAL ASIA MOD.2

The course provides an introduction to the contemporary history of Eurasia, from Russian imperial expansion to the present day. It aims to equip students with analytical tools to understand how the physical and human geography of the Russian, Caucasian, and Central Asian space has shaped the domestic and foreign policy trajectories of regional actors since the early twentieth century, and especially in the post-bipolar era.
The course is a compulsory component of the Near and Middle East curriculum within the BA Degree Programme in Languages, Cultures and Societies of Asia and Mediterranean Africa. In line with the educational objectives of the degree programme, the course seeks to provide students with foundational knowledge in geopolitics, political economy, and international organization, preparing them for further academic study or for professional opportunities in Italy and abroad.

Knowledge and Understanding:
- critically understand and problematize the main turning points in the contemporary history of Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, from the imperial and Soviet periods to the post-bipolar era;
- critically assess the historical, political, and cultural specificities of the Eurasian space as an area of interaction between different political traditions, state models, and cultural worlds;
- appropriate use the specialized vocabulary of contemporary history and international relations, mastering the key concepts and interpretative paradigms employed in the study of the region;
- critically understand the relationship between long-term historical factors and contemporary political dynamics, with particular reference to the domestic and foreign policies of regional actors.

Critical Judgment:
- critically analyse different types of sources;
- apply historical and geopolitical analytical tools to the understanding of complex international contexts, including those beyond the specific geographical area covered by the course;
- analyse the foreign and security policy choices of regional actors in light of their historical, geographical, and institutional constraints.

Learning Skills:
- critically integrate different types of study materials (lecture notes, slides, textbooks, and academic articles);
- independently study materials and topics not directly covered during lectures;
- further develop the ability to read and study academic materials in English.

Basic knowledge of contemporary history.

The course is structured into three modules and adopts a gradual approach, designed to provide students with the historical and conceptual foundations necessary to understand contemporary political processes in the Eurasian space.
The first module introduces students to the “long waves” of regional politics in Eurasia, providing the essential historical and conceptual tools required to interpret the contemporary processes examined in the subsequent modules. It focuses in particular on the legacy of more than a century of Russian domination of the region, first in its imperial form and later in its Soviet incarnation. Special attention is devoted to the dynamics of Russian and Soviet expansion and governance, centre–periphery relations, and the processes of nation-building within the imperial and Soviet frameworks.
The second module examines the political, economic, and institutional reconfiguration of the Eurasian space in the post-bipolar era. It focuses both on internal dynamics within the former Soviet republics and on their foreign policy trajectories. From the former perspective, the module analyses the interaction between state-building and nation-building processes in the post-Soviet space; from the latter, it examines the parameters shaping the foreign policy of Russia as a great power, as well as those of the smaller Caucasian and Central Asian states, including their objectives and the instruments employed.
The third module focuses on the most recent destabilisation of the Eurasian theatre, using the Russian, Caucasian, and Central Asian perspectives to analyse the crisis of the Liberal International Order that emerged after the 1991 watershed. The module is structured around the analysis of the conflicts that have unfolded in the post-Soviet space over the past two decades—from the Russo-Georgian war (2008), through the prolonged Ukrainian crisis (since 2014), to the Armenian–Azerbaijani conflict (2020–2024). These case studies are used to highlight the specific dynamics of the ongoing reconfiguration of the Eurasian space and, more broadly, of the international system.

Reference texts, recommended readings, and supplementary materials will be indicated and/or made available by the instructor via the Moodle platform.

Assessment is based on two complementary components.
Throughout the course, students are expected to actively participate in class discussions, demonstrating critical engagement with the course content and effective communication skills.
At the end of the course, students will sit a final oral examination aimed at assessing their mastery of the topics included in the examination programme as well as students’ analytical skills, critical argumentation, and ability to connect historical processes with political dynamics.

oral

Final grades are abased on the oral examination and active participation during the course, as follows:
- 30–27: Excellent knowledge of the course contents; strong analytical and critical skills; clear and well-structured argumentation; full command of specialized terminology.
- 26–23: Good knowledge of the main topics; adequate analytical skills; generally clear argumentation, with some limitations.
- 22–18: Basic knowledge of the essential contents; limited analytical ability; predominantly descriptive approach; imprecise but sufficient use of disciplinary language.
- Below 18: Insufficient knowledge of the course contents.

Lectures, accompanied by guided discussion of the topics addressed, as well as individual and/or group activities aimed at developing students’ critical analytical and argumentative skills.

None