Overview
Word count: approximately 1500 (~750 per question). total 2 questions
Answer ONE question from the following choice of six:
How have the tenets of classical geopolitics, formulated by Halford Mackinder, contributed to the actual foreign policy of the US? Illustrate your answer with two specific examples of the US action in post-Soviet Eurasia.
Why did Belarus and Tajikistan join the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO)?
Which primary security concerns link Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia closely in a Regional Security Complex? Cover at least three sectors of security in your answer.
- The US has repeatedly identified democracy promotion as an important foreign policy objective in Central Asia. How consistent and forceful has Washington been in pursuit of this objective? Illustrate your answer with references to at least two specific case studies.
Do you agree or disagree with the suggestion that ethnic conflicts have doomed the South Caucasus and Central Asia to permanent instability, and why?
- What are the main forms of human trafficking prevalent in post-Soviet Eurasia? Illustrate your answer with references to at least one country that is badly affected by this type of organized criminal activity.
Answer ONE question from the following choice of six:
- What were the main successes and failures of the government of Mikheil Saakashvili in Georgia in the wake of the ‘Rose Revolution’? Focus on Saakashvili’s domestic policies between 2004 and 2012.
What are the main historical, religious and linguistic factors complicating the quest for national unity in Ukraine today?
- Belarus is often referred to as ‘the last dictatorship in Europe’. How has President Aleksandr Lukashenko managed to stay in power since 1994? Focus on the domestic factors of regime stability in Belarus.
Who are the main international parties involved in the negotiations over the conflict in Transnistria, and why have their efforts to mediate a lasting solution proved fruitless so far?
- Should the world worry about the threat of nuclear proliferation from the former Soviet republics? Provide arguments for and against.
Why did Azerbaijan decide to ‘thaw’ the conflict with Armenia over Karabakh in September 2020? Discuss internal and external reasons for the resumption of hostilities.