Russia in Global Affairs

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RSCI Scopus

No. 3

2012 July/September

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Contents

Foreign Policy: The End of Unanimity?

Fyodor A. Lukyanov

The Theory and Praxis of Foreign Policy

The Nation State in Service of Globalization

Evgeniy Gontmacher, Nikita Zagladin

Neoclassical Realism and Today’s Russia

Tatiana A. Romanova

What’s Yonder?

Mikhail Vinogradov

The Specifics of Russian Soft Power

Konstantin Kosachev

Ideological Alternatives

From Activity to Effectiveness

Boris Kozlovsky, Pavel Lukin

We’ll Change Henceforth the Old Tradition! And Then…

Boris Kagarlitsky

Nationalism and Geopolitics: A Case for Russia

Mikhail Remizov

Russian Muslims and Foreign Policy

Rinat Mukhametov

Diplomacy for Economic Pursuits

Without Alliances and Ideologies

Vassily B. Kashin

Diplomacy and Innovation: The Idea Comes First

Ivan V. Danilin

Afghanistan and Around

Moscow and the Middle East: Repeat Performance?

Afghanistan in Search of Balance

Ivan A. Safranchuk

Shrinking Collective Security

Tashkent Goes, Problems Stay

How Myths Are Born

Virtual Security of Central Asia

Tajikistan: Lessons of Reconciliation

Anatoly Adamishin

Articles

Foreign Policy: The End of Unanimity?

The current developments in the world can best be described by the word ‘uncertainty.’

Fyodor A. Lukyanov

The Nation State in Service of Globalization

The modern world is witnessing a shift of power in all spheres of public life towards supranational and transnational structures, and at the same time, growing aspirations of some regions of large states to gain autonomy or even independence.

Evgeniy Gontmacher, Nikita Zagladin

Neoclassical Realism and Today’s Russia

The degree of accord among the economic, political, and religious elites over national ideology is even more significant in today’s world. A well-functioning and attractive state model secures a place for a country in the global competition of values.

Tatiana A. Romanova

What’s Yonder?

Sooner or later the international agenda will include the possibility for re-orienting Russian foreign policy from servicing the interests of the state to lobbying for the positions of specific economic and political players.

Mikhail Vinogradov

The Specifics of Russian Soft Power

Direct benefits from participation in integration projects with Russia most often outweigh “birds in the bush,” promised “at the end of a long journey,” after the aspirant has fulfilled an endless and arbitrarily changed list of conditions.

Konstantin Kosachev

From Activity to Effectiveness

The gravitation towards the Soviet past has not only psychological but also social causes, linked with the interests of a considerable part of the ruling elite. In actual fact, there is the same Soviet elite of the Brezhnev time, which has rid itself of the party and ideological control that restrained their desire for unbridled wealth.

Boris Kozlovsky, Pavel Lukin

We’ll Change Henceforth the Old Tradition! And Then…

Russia will have a chance, if it quits the existing institutions before they crash down to ruin it. In that case it will be able to give an example for other countries of the world to follow. But that will happen only if Russia’s internal political collapse will occur before the global crash.

Boris Kagarlitsky

Nationalism and Geopolitics: A Case for Russia

The numerous crises of late modernity – of democratic involvement, the social state, education – erode national unity, as well as diminish the grounds of moral consensus and social solidarity in their denominator. This lays out the historical agenda for a new nationalism. Nationalism in its international dimension takes on the form of rightwing anti-globalism.

Mikhail Remizov

Russian Muslims and Foreign Policy

Russia’s foreign policy is largely bureaucratic. Moscow maintains contacts only with ruling regimes but not with counter-elites and societies – and this is especially fatal in the Middle East. This is why Moscow supports even doomed regimes to the uttermost.

Rinat Mukhametov

Without Alliances and Ideologies

Russia is ready to take into account possible negative effects of its military-technical cooperation with foreign countries and may enter into secret deals, but it will always react highly negatively to direct pressure. This policy is entirely in the interests of the Russian defense industry and Russia as a state.

Vassily B. Kashin

Diplomacy and Innovation: The Idea Comes First

The innovative process, especially one so weak and fragile as in Russia, is very sensitive to external factors; it requires that politicians work in calm and silence. So the first simple and inexpensive step would be to revise the diplomatic lexicon and style.

Ivan V. Danilin

Moscow and the Middle East: Repeat Performance?

Just as the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan vitiated many of the achievements made by Soviet foreign policy toward the Middle East from the 1950s through the 1970s, Moscow’s strong support for the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria threatens to negate the achievements of Putin’s foreign policy.

Afghanistan in Search of Balance

Although Moscow has no reasons to be proactive in Afghan affairs, it will probably need to step up its efforts. Ultimately, the Afghans should be given the opportunity to build up a steady balance of forces at home, and then use these forces as a basis for political compromise.

Ivan A. Safranchuk

Tashkent Goes, Problems Stay

Uzbekistan’s withdrawal makes one think of a more general problem – the artificiality of the entire structure of military-political security, built around Russia. In fact, the CSTO is now a mechanical combination of three security systems, each based on Russian participation.

How Myths Are Born

The CSTO has not shown any signs of activity during its two decades of existence. The mechanism to realize its potential remains unclear; i.e., it is unlikely that a Belarus or an Armenian soldier will guard the Tajik-Afghan border, or that a Tajik or a Kyrgyz will intervene between Armenia and Azerbaijan in case of an armed clash.

Virtual Security of Central Asia

If the new/old Russian leadership pursues integration in the military-political sphere with the same zeal as it did in the establishment of the Customs Union, the Common Economic Space and the Eurasian Union, hopefully there will be progress in the CSTO’s transformation, as well.

Tajikistan: Lessons of Reconciliation

Russia can be deservedly proud that it achieved its main goals in 1992-1994. The methods employed were almost exclusively peaceful, despite attempts by both parties to drag Russia into the confrontation. By all standards, national reconciliation in Tajikistan remains a landmark event in the modern history of Russian diplomacy.

Anatoly Adamishin