Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Comparing The Us Response To The Soviet Invasion Of Afghanistan And The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine: Learning From The Past And Planning For The Future, Zachary Hogan

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

As the Russo-Ukrainian war continues to rage, the decisions of the present are of paramount importance. In order to make the most positive and well-supported decisions in this ongoing conflict, it would be wise to look to past instances of similar situations. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is such an instance. The parallels between the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the past Soviet invasion of Afghanistan are extensive and, more importantly, informative for U.S. foreign policy. It is with this lens that this paper will pursue a historical foreign policy analysis of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, its circumstances and …

Russian Chemical And Biological Weapons: Limiting The Effects Of Russian Cbw Programs On Nato Security Through 2035, Jason Gregory Porter

MSU Graduate Theses

This thesis uses qualitative research methods to: (1) assess the extent and capabilities of Russia’s modern chemical and biological weapons programs, (2) assess Russian compliance with arms control agreements, (3) determine the threats Russian chemical and biological weapons pose to NATO security, (4) assess NATO’s existing strategy against the modern chemical and biological threat, and (5) provide recommendations for U.S. and NATO policies and programs to mitigate the threat of these programs in the short and medium term. This project demonstrates that Russian chemical and biological weapons programs have remained consistently in violation of international arms control agreements since the …

Attitudes Of Ethnic Minorities Towards National Defense And Security In The Triadic Nexus: The Case Of Russian-Speakers In Estonia, Nikita Lumijoe

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The contested loyalty of ethnic minorities between the host nation and ethnocultural homeland can play a significant role in the formation of geopolitical tensions as well as civil and ethnic-based conflicts. When the ethnocultural homeland of an ethnic minority increases the scale of intervention into the inner affairs of the host countries using hybrid, cognitive and even military wise, the attitudes of ethnic minorities towards national security and defense policy become a strategic asset for both sides.

In 2014, pro-Russian separatism in Ukraine focused the attention of the international community to the political attitudes of Russian-speaking ethnic minorities in Eastern …

Armenia: Overcoming Economic And Geopolitical Obstacles, Chester English

Senior Theses

Over thirty years of Armenian independence has been characterized by existential security threats, a hollow political establishment, economic and defense reliance on Russia, and an out of touch diaspora. This paper takes on a historical analysis to identify the roots of these problems, and ultimately attempts to seek out potential solutions and identify Armenia’s place in an ever changing global landscape. Beyond the history, it studies the relationships Armenia has with its neighbors, its diaspora, and the international community at large. Establishing a forward looking outlook, Armenia’s goals should be oriented toward investment based relations with its diaspora; embracing the …

The Commonwealth Of Independent States: A Symbolic Union Or Another Ussr?, Luka Donovan Linich

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Thawing Interests: The Arctic In U.S. Grand Strategy, Benjamin S. Murray

MSU Graduate Theses

The thawing Arctic is subject to increasing activity, attention, and a renewal of interests in the region from around the globe. National interests have compelled strategic planning in the Arctic region and are connected to global geopolitics. A concept of grand strategy is distilled from theories of past authors, understood within the modern context. That concept includes a terminological framework consisting of interests and threats to inform an ends, ways, and means design of strategy, composed of all instruments of state power, blending policy with strategy, and across the peace-war continuum. Then fundamental precepts of existing U.S. grand strategy are …

Uninvited Guests In The Backyard: Dangers And Risks Of Terrorist And Anti-American Activity In Latin America, Santiago Spadiliero

MSU Graduate Theses

The international security environment has changed. In the last two decades, new challengers to the American liberal order arose, with China being the most defiant one, in political and military terms. Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative opened the doors to these extra-continental powers, as their loans provided an alternative source of funding for Latin America, walking these countries away from American-led lending institutions. In this new context, Latin America becomes a desirable piece of land in which these new challengers can safely create trade routes while decreasing American influence. Russia and Iran also want to project power in America’s backyard. …

The Role Of The Wagner Group In The Russo-Ukrainian War, Erik Herbert Lohmus

CMC Senior Theses

The Wagner Group has emerged as one of the most prominent actors of the on-going Russo-Ukrainian war. Although Private Military Companies are banned by the Russian Constitution and Russian Criminal Code, Wagner has been able and permitted to operate all across the world as a foreign policy tool of the Russian state. However, Wagner’s use and employment in Ukraine has differed drastically compared to Syria, Central African Republic and Libya, as the group is employed in a more conventional capacity. With many of the Russian successes in the east of Ukraine attributable to Wagner, the financier of the group, Yevgeny …

Thither The Russian Navy? Putin’S Navalization In A Historical Context, William Emerson Bunn

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The Syrian operation of 2012 was the first successful employment by Russia of expeditionary warfare, narrowly defined as naval support to Russian (or Soviet) ground forces in a war away from their periphery (i.e., in a country that does not border them), from the sea. This was brought about in part by the development of two types of cruise missiles: advanced anti-ship missiles (which protects their expeditionary force from NATO naval units, enabling local sea control) and new land attack cruise missiles (similar in design and capability to the U.S. Tomahawk). In the past geographical, technological and political constraints …

Securing Russia: Seeking Ontological Security In The Arctic, Brian W. Cole

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia experienced an abrupt discontinuity in its sense of identity. This break in identity, and a more profound lost sense of self, creates a strong need to reestablish continuity. The need to regain that sense of self is strong and can supersede other concerns. Ontological security theory proposes that the need to maintain identity can outweigh physical security considerations. This study uses game theory methodology and the Arctic as a contextual example to demonstrate that ontological security-seeking actors are willing to sacrifice physical security. Today, the current conditions in the Arctic reflect a …

Weapons Of Mass Migration In The 21st Century: Russia, Belarus, And The European Union, Kia Imazu Fatahi Faz Abad

Senior Theses

In recent years, a debate has arisen about a controversial method of warfare – refugees and migrants who are exploited in multi-dimensional conflicts and humanitarian crises by state actors. The notion of ‘weapons of mass migration’, or a deliberate use of refugees and migrants as leverage against other nation-states, became one of the most prominent yet underappreciated theories in academic literature. But who actually availed themselves of the “weapons of mass migration” during the European migrant crisis, and how does migration fit into the realm of international relations today? My thesis aims to provide a detailed examination of the alleged …

How And Why Do Great Powers Weaponize Bordering Diasporas In Foreign Policy., Matthew A. Payne

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many ethnic groups found themselves suddenly as a diaspora across the various republics. Most notable among these would be the Russians who radiated out from the Russian SFSR into the periphery states. In two states in particular, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, was there simultaneously an overall large community of these dispersed Russians and in which that community formed a substantial share of the host state’s population. In 2014, in the wake of a pro-European regime change in Ukraine, a civil war erupted as Moscow directed pro-Russian separatists to seek independence.

This paper …

Popular Protests And Democratization In Post-Soviet Countries: An Analysis Of Why Some Democracy Movements Failed And Others Succeeded, David Mcdonald

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to analyze pro-democracy movements in post-Soviet countries through the lens of existing theories of democratization to determine why a particular protest movement succeeded or failed. Through a qualitative analysis of theories of democratization and four case studies – Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Belarus – this thesis finds that the theories of democratization are ultimately applicable and helpful in understanding these case studies, albeit in different ways. Whereas the theories and their predictions might be proven correct in the cases of Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, the opposite is true in Russia and Belarus, where authoritarian regimes have taken steps …

From Ideological Resource To Financial Asset: The Evolving Relationship Between Youth And The State In Putin's Russia, Eleanor Schmid

Honors Theses

This thesis identifies four periods of Russian youth policy, and discusses how President Vladimir Putin's approach to youth and youth issues is markedly different than that of previous heads of state, and that it has evolved even within his tenure. My content coding analysis of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs' 2013-2025 Strategy identifies the main values the Russian government seeks to impart upon youth, and my analysis of public opinion surveys of youth provides evidence that there is a connection between the 2013 Strategiia and youth attitudes and values.

Hand Over Fist: Russia's Use Of Military Aggression To Affect Regional Policy, Bobby G. Simmons Ii

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to assess Russia's effectiveness at using military exercises to affect the policies of neighboring Eastern European states. This is first done through an analysis of three Russian military exercises: Zapad-2017, Kavkaz-2020, and Ocean Shield-2020. The overview and results of the exercises are discussed. Then, three Eastern European countries are assessed as targets of Russian military aggression: Belarus, Lithuania, and Ukraine. The relationships between these countries and Russia are then reviewed before discussing how each country was impacted by one or more of the three aforementioned Russian military exercises. Following this analysis, a brief assessment …

The Failure Of Third-Party Interventions In Civil Wars, Benjamin D. Giltner

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the circumstances that result in the inability of third-party interventions to solve civil wars. Previous research has examined the impact of third-party interventions on the outcomes of civil wars, the interests of third-party actors in civil wars, as well as the perceptions of civil war participants on third-party actors. The theory in this paper asserts that third-party interventions are unsuccessful when the government and leader of at least one country place the interest of special interest groups ahead of the national interest of their country. This research uses the war in eastern …

Great Power Politics: The United States’ War On Disinformation With Consideration To Russian And Chinese Offensive Efforts, Jordan Venglass

CMC Senior Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the growing national security threat posed by Russia and China’s willingness to exercise 21st century information warfare techniques against the United States and its areas of strategic interest. This study will describe the composition of these state’s foreign disinformation entities while providing several case studies that display their advanced capabilities and the direct effects that each poses on the general public both domestically and internationally. To best provide unbiased reporting and accuracy in each country’s analysis, this study will rely on the diversified use of government reports, legal documents, academic journals, and …

From Tajikistan To Russia And Back: Understanding Changes In Gender Relations Through The Lived Experiences Of Tajik Migrant Workers In Russia, Tahmina Shokirova

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation is the story of Tajik migrant workers who have lived and worked in Russia. It examines how gender relations of power change in the context of labour migration through the lived experiences of the migrants. The study asks the overarching research question: How do gender relations change in the context of Tajik labour migration to Russia? Following the social constructionist epistemology, gender is framed through the lens of post-structural, intersectional, and transnational feminist theories. The study employs a conceptual framework that integrates the following into a coherent whole: feminist theories of gender relations, the general context of international …

"Unite The Left": Contextualizing Bukharin's Abc Of Communism And Berkman's Abc Of Anarchism, David Hayter

Theses and Dissertations

In 1919, Nikolai Bukharin, the leading theoretician of the Bolshevik Party, published a manual entitled The ABC of Communism meant to put the governing ideology of the newly formed Soviet State into eminently readable terms. Alexander Berkman, a Russian Anarchist who strongly supported the October Revolution, became disillusioned with the new regime in 1921 and left the country. He later published his own tract entitled The ABC of Anarchism. This thesis pits these two theoretical works against each other as historical documents embodying the nature of leftist polemics that has characterized the movement since the dissolution of the First …

Militarism, Economics, And Nationalism: The Russian And Chinese Expansionist Foreign Policy Of The 21st Century, Paul Charles Gargiulo Jr.

Senior Theses

While the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 may have harkened in a new era of global peace, the rise of nationalist governments in China and Russia have changed this circumstance as seen in their respective spheres of influence. During the first two decades of the 21st Century, China and Russia have become increasingly aggressive in the application of their foreign policies, attempting to assert their presence on the global stage. From 1945 through 1991, there has been a historical precedence of Chinese and Russian dominance in the South China Sea and in Eastern Europe. This was in part …

Putin's Invisible Hand: Why Are Gongos Increasingly Resurfacing Under The Putin Administration?, Sydnee Merritt

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Government Organized Non-Governmental Organizations (GONGOs), once common during the Soviet-era, are now increasingly resurfacing under the Putin administration. Once completely abolished from Russia, these deceitful organizations are accompanying various new laws signed by President Putin in the Russian Federation. While Russia does not claim to be a liberal democracy with a free civil society and Putin has described his state as a “managed democracy,” the puzzle still remains why the Putin administration is secretly using organizations to fulfill government ploys. This thesis will analyze the types of GONGOs along with new laws and policies signed into effect under the Putin …

U.S. Democratization In Post-Cold War Russia: A Critique, Franklin T. Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

States are path dependent entities that deviate solely in the face of catastrophic failures in the pursuit of axiomatic ends by conventional means. The inertia of bureaucratic institutions, a foreign policy consensus within a self-reproducing elite of experts, the self-interest of political elites and a sense of “national self” or identity lead states to understand themselves in light of a history and a relative level of status on the world stage. Since the end World War II, the U.S. has a certain path that places the spread of democracy and laissez-faire capitalism extremely important if not vital foreign policy goals. …

Strategic Competition And Escalation Management In The 21st Century: Russian Hybrid Warfare And China’S Rise, Raymond L. Reilly Iii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) and the unclassified version of the U.S. National Defense Strategy (NDS) both focus on China and Russia as preeminent challenges for the United States. The NDS states specifically, “Long-term strategic competitions with China and Russia are the principal priorities for the Department [of Defense].”¹ This paper focuses on the strategic challenges that these two nations pose and provides recommendations for U.S. strategy and policy. Globalization and the rapid advancement of technology has changed the utility of force in the 21st century. The utility of force has evolved, resulting in a shift in the …

Digital Authoritarianism In China And Russia: A Comparative Study, Laura H.C. Howells

Honors Projects

Digital authoritarianism is on the rise around the world and threatens the data privacy and rights of both domestic and international Internet users. However, scholarship on digital authoritarianism remains limited in scope and case study selection. This study contributes a new, more comprehensive analytical framework for the study of Internet governance and applies it to the case studies of China and Russia. Special attention is paid to the still understudied Russian Internet governance model. After thorough literature review and novel data collection and analysis, this paper identifies relative centralization of network infrastructure and the extent and pace of change in …

Shutting Down Russia's Superiority Complex. An Analysis Of The International Community's Response To Russia's 2014 Annexation Of Crimea., Luisa Valles

CMC Senior Theses

The United States, the European Union and allies responded to the Russian Federation’s 2014 Annexation of Crimea with economic sanctions. After providing a basic understanding of Russia’s political economy and rent redistribution economic system, this paper supplies an overview of the Western sanctions within Russia’s three economic sectors — the energy industry, the defense industry, and the financial system. From there, I make an analysis of the Russian response to the sanctions is within each sector. Furthermore, I argue that the United States supports ulterior motives for implementing the economic sanctions. Concluding with the effects of the sanctions to Russia's …

Make Orwell Fiction Again: Authoritarian Regimes' Use Of Surveillance Technology In China And Russia, Nora Mahon Wheelehan

Senior Theses

This thesis demonstrates how different models of authoritarianism rely on surveillance technology as a part of the state’s capacity. Specifically, I look at the technology based mechanisms employed by China and Russia in their efforts to regulate their population and ensure their durability based on their historical ideology of surveillance. In the comparison of the two states, I demonstrate how the differences in the scope of their efforts reflects China’s long term authoritarian stability in contrast with Russia’s political turbulence. The two regimes have similar historical origins, nontax revenue structures, and political institutions, whereas they differ in their state’s capacity …

Creating An Indigenous Multicultural Faith: The Russian Orthodox Mission In Alaska And The Centrality Of Cosmology, Niklaus Von Houck

History Undergraduate Theses

This paper applies letters, journals, history interviews, government-company contracts, international treaties, theological works, and images to examine the convergence of Russian Orthodox Christianity and Alaskan Indigenous shamanism cultures to explicate the harmonizing of an Indigenous multicultural Christian faith in nineteenth-century Russian Alaska. Central to this examination is the evaluation of effects of Orthodox Christian missiology on native Alaskans and the Indigenous religio-cultural response to Russian missionaries. Not merely a historical overview of contact between natives and missionaries in Russian Alaska, this paper harmonizes the commonality of cosmology between native Alaskan shamanism and Orthodox Christianity. It analyzes the impacts of comparatively …

Power, Punk, And Performance: A Critical Analysis Of Hooligan Laws In Russia, Noelle Wurst

Honors Program Theses

This paper presents the argument that the criminal charge of hooliganism in Russia is a political tool used to suppress dissent and uphold the authoritarian ideals of Putin’s regime. The background of this analysis includes a broad overview of the development of the hooligan laws over time and how they have been used to advance elite interests. In addition, the key policies, institutions, and rhetoric that surround hooliganism in present-day Russia are identified. The legitimacy of the hooligan laws is then tested against both domestic and international law, especially in regards to norms on freedoms of speech.

Treatment And Evolution Of Digital Rights: A Comparative Analysis Of China, Russia, The United States, And Germany, Karina Barbesino

Honors Program Theses

The internet and digital technologies allow for the recognition, advocation, and protection of human rights. People around the world have access to faster and exponentially more information than ever before. The possibilities for education, politics, healthcare, work, and equality have greatly expanded. The internet provides new opportunities for the progression of humanity, but not without a cost. The transformative power of the internet to both empower and infringe on human rights has not been lost on states. As a relatively new domain, the policies in cyberspace remain in their trial periods. Each state is implementing, redacting, and implementing again policies …

Politics And Society In Federation Era Russia: Power Elites, Music And The Shaping And Manipulation Of Culture And Identity, Hayley Ream

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between government and society in shaping and manipulating perceptions – or even illusions – of culture and identity in contemporary Russia. Russia’s relationship with the larger world is arguably playing out in a revisionist post-Soviet era framework, particularly since Vladimir Putin first assumed the role of Acting President of the Russian Federation, following the resignation of Boris Yeltsin, in December 1999. Since, the Russian government has sought to create a perception of a healthy public space within representative democratic structure of government. This is a perception the government of Vladimir Putin is committed to maintaining. …