Course Details

9780: Russia and China’s Contentious Cooperation

February 9-13
11:45 AM - 1:15 PM
In-Person

This course covers Sino-Russian relations in a historical perspective. Between the 17th–20th centuries, relations between China and Russia have been on a roller-coaster, from the first tentative efforts to maintain a fragile border between two expanding empires, through Russia’s efforts to dominate China in the 19th century, and China’s emergence as a competitive revolutionary power in the 20th century. Along the way, each side drew both positive and negative lessons from the other’s experience.

Class Type: Lecture and Discussion

Class Format: In-Person

Hours of Reading: No reading

Study Group Leader(s):

Howard Spendelow

Howard Spendelow earned a BA in Government (1966) from Oberlin College, an MA in Chinese Regional Studies (1970), and a PhD in History and East Asian Languages (1982) from Harvard University. He taught history at Georgetown University from 1979 to 2023, and from 1980 to 2014 he also served as Contract Chair of the Advanced Area Studies Seminar on China at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute.