RUSSIA AND EURASIA
(POLS 345-WR)
Spring 2010, MWF 1:00-1:50 pm

Russia and Eurasia (POLS 345-WR) is an especially timely course.  As President Obama moves to increase U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, the surrounding countries of Eurasia will be critical in a successful strategy to contain the Taliban and make progress in the war on terrorism. With America’s military supply routes through Pakistan threatened by militants operating in the Northeast Frontier Provinces, the northern supply route through Russia and former Soviet Central Asia is now vitally important in our war effort.  Beyond negotiating with Russia and the Central Asian states on the Afghan security issue, Washington is also seeking to negotiate an extension of the Strategic Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, and is becoming increasingly dependent on Russian oil.  Europe is already heavily dependent on Russian oil and natural gas, and these dependencies create a new dynamic as an increasingly authoritarian Russia adopts a more assertive posture toward its neighbors in the South (as during the Russo-Georgian War of August 2008) and the West (the gas wars with Ukraine). Russia and the Eurasian states have taken different political paths, with some democratizing and others becoming increasingly repressive, leading to political tensions regionally and posing problems for U.S. democracy promotion efforts.