Seminar: Russia and East Asia

This seminar will examine Russia’s relations with and integration into the East Asian region. Russia’s recently declared “pivot” to the east is an indication of the growing importance Moscow attaches to its strategic, political, and economic interests in East Asia, particularly with respect to China, Japan, and South Korea. The seminar will examine the nature of those interests and policies Moscow is following in pursuit of those interests. A special feature of this seminar is that two MIIS and two Middlebury students will be selected on competitive basis to take a fully-paid field research trip to Vladivostok and Khabarovsk from March 21 to 29. Participants will be selected during the November 7-14 period. The trip will include: (1) a series of meetings with instructors, researchers, and students at the Far Eastern Federal University's School of International and Regional Studies in Vladivostok, as well as the Economic Research Institute, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Khabarovsk; (2) interviews with officials of the regional administrations of Khabarovsk and Primorye; (3) a series of meetings with media reporters and nongovernmental organization representatives in Vladivostok and Khabarovsk; and (4) a questionnaire survey of instructors, researchers, and students at the two institutions named above regarding their views on evolving Russia-Japan relations. Upon return the students will write research papers with a particular focus on Russia’s integration with Northeast Asian countries. The other students will write a research paper on a topic approved by the instructor.