Conspiracy на Histories of secrecy between diplomacy and espionage: surveillance, conspiracy and information

2025/2026

Academic Year

ENG

Instruction in English

3

ECTS credits

Category 'Best Course for Career Development'

Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'

Category 'Best Course for New Knowledge and Skills'

Delivered at:

Department of History

Course type:

Elective course

When:

2 year, 2 module

Instructor

Egorov, Evgenii

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This MA course delves into the intricate intersection of diplomacy and espionage, exploring the nuanced histories of secrecy. Focused on diverse forms of surveillance, the curriculum navigates the blurred boundaries between diplomatic practices and covert intelligence operations. Investigating themes of conspiracy and information manipulation, the course offers a comprehensive understanding of how secrecy has shaped historical narratives and continues to influence contemporary global dynamics.

Learning Objectives

• Being capable of navigating the historiography on surveillance and espionage
• Able to articulate analytical perspectives on the interactions between diplomacy, knowledge production, and information gathering

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Student articulates the relations between diplomacy and intelligence
• Student traces the origins of diplomatic communications, intelligence gathering and surveillance institutions
• Student recognizes the relations between literature, conspiracy, and secrecy
• Student articulates the connection between imperial rule and information-gathering
• Student explains the history of particular imagination surrounding secrecy and diplomacy
• Student navigates diplomatic forms of knowledge as well as intricacies of information-production
• Student articulates modern debates about the future of IR and diplomacy

Course Contents

• The delicate relations between diplomacy and intelligence
• Conspiracies, secrecies, and their origins
• Decoding a conspiracy: investigation and surveillance
• Empire and surveillance
• Aesthetics and images of diplomacy and espionage
• Forms of knowledge in diplomacy and espionage
• Radical thoughts for brighter future: peace, state and promises of diplomacy

Assessment Elements

• Seminar work
• Essay
• Presentation

Interim Assessment

• 2025/2026 2nd module
  0.3 * Seminar work + 0.2 * Presentation + 0.5 * Essay

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Conan, D. A. A Question of Diplomacy / D. A. Conan. — Санкт-Петербург : Лань, 2013. — 14 с. — ISBN 978-5-507-32858-1. — Текст : электронный // Лань : электронно-библиотечная система. — URL: https://e.lanbook.com/book/39938 (дата обращения: 00.00.0000). — Режим доступа: для авториз. пользователей.

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• American diplomacy in the twentieth century, Schulzinger, R. D., 1994

Authors

• Liubavina Svetlana Viacheslavovna
• Egorov Evgenii Vitalevich