goeg

Project #2: Russian Geopolitics Mini-Documentary

Overview

To state that Russia's geopolitical situation is complex is an understatement.  Within the borders of the Russian Federation lie more than twenty semi-autonomous Ethnic Republics and Autonomous Regions, units of Russia's federal system reflecting the country's expansive extent and considerable ethnic diversity.  Outside its borders, Russia exerts considerable (and growing) geopolitical force within the Russian and Central Asian realm, in areas adjacent to the realm, and even globally as a result of the country's military expansion and control of energy resources.   Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in early 2014 -- territory controlled previously by neighboring Ukraine -- further exemplifies Russia's efforts to exert substantial influence within its near abroad.  Your task for this project is to explore any aspect of Russian geopolitics (including, but not limited to, any salient domestic, international, or energy-related aspects) in the form of a short video documentary.

The following video documents the rise of Vladimir Putin and Russia's contemporary geopolitical ambitions:

· From spy to president: The rise of Vladimir Putin (from Vox)

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this project, you will have learned:

· About the geography and history of Russia, Central Asia, and Russia's territorial expansion within its realm;

· About Russia's foreign policy, energy resources, and geopolitical issues related to Russia's influence within its region;

· About issues related to geopolitics and hegemony in general, and;

· How to craft a narrative in video form.

Requirements

For this project you are required to craft a three to five minute video mini-documentary focused upon any topic related to Russia's geopolitical situation.  You could, for example, focus on Russia's annexation of Crimea, development and export of energy resources, or Russification efforts throughout the country's territory and realm -- but you are in no way limited to these topics.   Use of the course discussion forum to share ideas about possible documentary topics is encouraged.

Following are requirements for your mini-documentary:

· Your video documentary must be three to five minutes in length;

· Your name must appear visually and must be spoken within the first 30 seconds of your documentary;

· Your documentary must draw upon and cite at least five media sources (i.e. where you obtained relevant images or multimedia resources) and five non-media sources beyond the textbook;

· Non-media sources must be (1) scholarly articles, (2) policy papers published by recognized institutions, or (3) news media articles published by reputable media organizations.  Other sources of information are not acceptable for this project ("fake news" need not apply!);

· Citations of all sources, multimedia and non-media, must appear at the end of your documentary;

· Your documentary must be uploaded to a video or screencast hosting service such as YouTube, Vimeo, or Screencast.com, and your submission for the project should consist of a Web URL pointing to your work.

Never created an online video before?  Don't worry -- plenty of resources and tools are at your disposal to make your mini-documentary a success.  One of the most straightforward approaches for creating a Web-based mini-documentary is to use software like Jing to record your computer screen and audio from your computer's microphone.  Presentation software including Microsoft PowerPoint (commercial software), LibreOffice (free software), or Google Slides (cloud software) can be used to organize media resources, and using this software (or using screencasting software like Jing), you can record narration over your media-rich slides.  If you are feeling ambitious or if you have video editing experience, you are welcome to use any other video editing software of your choice.

Note that your mini-documentary should be driven by facts and research rather than your opinion about various characteristics of Russia's geopolitical situation.