Nation-building and Identity Politics in Contemporary Russia: Policy Analysis

Course designed and taught by: Dr Guzel Yusupova

The course provides an overview of different aspects of nation-building, identity politics and diversity management in post-Soviet Russia, and, at the same time, develops the participants’ skills in writing a policy paper. The course focuses on: issues of federalism and nationalising policies in contemporary Russia; related questions of ethnic and religious diversity and multiculturalism; the increasing role of Orthodoxy and the promotion of conservatism at state level; the role of memory politics in a multi-ethnic state; the role and impact of mass migration within the former-Soviet area; the question of patriotism in education.

The first two sessions are designed to introduce recent transformations of relations between the Russian centre and regions, including reforms of federalism and the current nation-building strategy of Putin’s authoritarian regime. The six sessions that follow focus on specific policies (ethnic diversity, religion, migration, citizenship, memory politics, patriotic education). These will be discussed and evaluated, with a view to proposing hypothetical changes and improvements, based on different political standpoints.

Each weekly 2-hour session will typically consist of two parts: the first hour will be devoted to a collective discussion of the previous week’s lecture topic and associated reading; the second hour will be a lecture delivered by the tutor on the named topic of the week. The first hour of week 1 will be an overview of how the module will run, including the logistics, expectations, requirements, etc., as well as a preliminary discussion of the distinctive form of output that the course leads on to, namely a ‘policy paper’. The second hour in week 1 will be devoted to an overview lecture on the topic federalism and multiethnicity of the Russian Federation.

In weeks 1 and 2 the first hour discussion will be led by the tutor (GY). From week 3 the discussion will be led by a student volunteer (or, depending on how many students take the course, a pair of volunteers). As discussion leader(s), the volunteer(s) will be expected to provide a list of questions and suggestions to orient other students in the issues and to steer the discussion. The appointment of discussion leaders will take place in week 2.

At the end of the course, the students will be expected to submit a 2,000-word policy paper describing the question/problem that needs solving, elaborating the background, stressing why the problem is important, identifying deficiencies in the current policies, proposing tweaks or radical changes of strategic direction, putting these into context, projecting outcomes, etc. Guidance on how to write a policy paper will be provided throughout the course. One-on-one tutorial consultations will also be available. Participants are expected to submit the draft of the policy paper to GY by email in the last week of term. Written feedback will be provided within a few weeks. The best submissions will be published online as Russian-al-Sabah Papers (see student policy papers from 2018).

For further detail see the Nation-building and Identity Politics reading list (.pdf).

For further information contact: guzel.yusupova@durham.ac.uk.