THE THEMES OF COURSE PAPERS

THE PARADIGMES OF THE RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLITICS. XIX-XXI.

1. What was the role of Russia in European politics in the first quarter of the XIX century. Were
the Holy Union and the policy of European Congresses  useful for peace and constitutionalism in
Europe or not?

2. What was  “the Spring of Nations” in the second quarter of the XIX century. Was the foreign
policy of Nicolas I right or wrong toward the development of ethnical nationalism in Europe?

3. Russia in the time of Imperialism (1855 – 1913). What was common and what was specific in the
Russian foreign policy of that time in comparison with other “Great” Powers?

4. Did the Russian foreign policy in the threshold and course of the First World War turned to be
one of the reasons for Revolution? In what way did the four revolutions and the fall of monarchies
in Russia, Germany, Austria and Turkey  change the international climate in Europe?

5. Did the Soviet foreign politics and Comintern accelerate or hamper the beginning of the Second
World War (1939-45)?

6. Did the Soviet foreign politics in the course and after the end of the Second World War promote
the peace and stability of Europe or produce reasons for new conflicts and wars in future?

7. What was the “Doctrine of Brezhnev”? Why did these politics end in the collapse in Afghanistan?

8. What was “Reconstruction” (Perestroyka) in your opinion – a continuation of traditional Soviet
foreign politics or an attempt to find principally new approaches in international relations?

9. What are the significant aspects of the foreign politics of post-communist Russia?  Do you see
some features of its succession with the Soviet and Russian Imperial ones, or you suppose that in
the XXI century Russia has constructed predominantly new pattern of its foreign policy?