The concept of ‘national security’ was introduced by Walter Lippmann in his book U.S. Foreign Policy: Shield of the Republic published in 1943. The concept was officially accepted in the 1947 National Security Act which laid the basis for the establishment of the U.S. National Security Council. Initially, the concept of U.S. national security was formulated in somewhat ambiguous terms and was later continuously revised. It took a few decades before the concept became well-structured and clearly defined.

In Russia, the perception of a national security policy and its official formulation was introduced half a century later. Naturally, Russia’s first moves in this sphere, like those of the U.S., were rather ineffective. Attempts to imitate the American model, while at the same time retaining the patterns of the Communist Party reports, resulted in eclectic and ambiguous definitions, as well as superfluous estimates of all the aspects of Russia’s domestic and foreign policy. In this respect the book by Sergei Kortunov favorably differs from all previous publications on the subject.

The book starts with a brief overview of legislative acts and messages by the President of the Russian Federation (from 1992 up to the present) in which national security policy guidelines were set.

Section 1, entitled Theoretical and Methodological Problems of Shaping Russia’s National Security Policy in the 21st Century, considers the means and resources for ensuring national security, global processes determining its current state and  the mechanisms for implementing national security policy. It also introduces some methodological fundamentals for formulating security policy and sets the priorities in Russian domestic and foreign policy.

The author correctly concludes: “Modern perception of the methodological basics of national security maintenance… is, unfortunately, utterly outdated” (p. 34). In the meantime, theoretical and methodological fundamentals are of crucial importance; this is, of course, unless Russia is not going to learn the art of planning and choose the means and resources needed to ensure national security on the spot, i.e. by cut-and-try method, which would require another fifty years. The author believes that national security policy should be formulated on the categorical level. On the whole, the methodological section of the book is undoubtedly a serious contribution to political science.

It is noteworthy that the second step in developing the U.S. national security concept was the emergence of the formula “national security in terms of world security.” It is most likely that the same logic made Kortunov almost literally reproduce this formula in the title of Section 2 National Security in the Context of the Emerging International Security. However, whereas in the U.S. the development of the national security concept continues differentiating the notions ‘national security’ and ‘defense,’ Kortunov, in my view, considers the issue in a broader modern context – he makes a critical analysis of the previous (and still existent) instruments of interna-tional security and looks for new models of world governance.

The book has twelve chapters, each of which could be easily expanded to a separate section, considering the abundance of information the author provides (actually, each of the sections could be expanded to a separate book). Instead, all of the principles, methodologies, ideas, concepts, facts and documents are presented in Kortunov’s book in a condensed way, which helps the reader to immediately catch the key points. Except for Chapter 12, titled Russia’s National Identity, never does the author fail to maintain the position of an unbiased observer. This is especially valuable since for almost half a decade Sergei Kortunov, as one of the Kremlin officials, was directly involved in projects for the development of Russia’s national security strategy.

As is well known, a daily routine, an overload of urgent matters and continuous fast-paced work of a civil servant can hardly promote creative thinking or theorizing. Original thinking with government officials is hampered by the bureaucratic machine which automatically opposes any views that do not correspond to the general line. Abundant bureaucracy constrains normally separate people who generate ideas from those who make decisions. This is why only very few innovative proposals can break out from the bureaucratic labyrinth. Even if a proposal does find its way through, it usually changes beyond recognition due to incessant coordination procedures and compromises between various government departments, as well as due to numerous amendments made by those who never take the trouble of consulting the author of the proposal.

Yet, Sergei Kortunov, while working in the capacity of an assistant to the Russian President’s aide for national security, Deputy Head of the Defense Council Office and Chief of the International Analytical Department, was given carte blanche to engage in creative activities. He was assigned to organize a ‘brain factory’ that would seek effective solutions to defense and security issues, and he did his job perfectly. Kortunov inspired and coordinated the efforts of many teams of the best Russian experts. The book under review actually embodies the vast experience and new ideas gained by the author during his work under government projects.

It is also precisely for this reason that, in a way, the book appears to be a collective work: documents presented in it actually have integrated the ideas and proposals made by many experts. The author was scrupulous enough to list all the people who worked to formulate national security documents.

In my opinion, Sergei Kortunov has successfully considered at least five tasks in his book.

First, the book should evoke the interest of Russian political scientists and policymakers in national security problems.

Second, it provides any Russian citizen concerned with the country’s security with a clear idea of the different factors determining national security policy, and thereby contributes to a better understanding of the problems the nation is facing today.

Third, it outlines the ways that help develop strategic thinking in the security field.

Fourth, it produces a concise guide to various concepts, priorities, guidelines, means and mechanisms of implementing national security policy.

Fifth, it sums up a decade’s progress in developing and implementing Russia’s security policy and outlines prospects for the future.

I believe that the book should be considered an achievement in its main goal if it has an impact on at least one high-ranking politician dealing with Russia’s national security issues and leads to at least one prudent and effective solution in this sphere.

Yuri Baturin