Russia in Global Affairs

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RSCI Scopus

No. 4

2017 October/December

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Contents

A Wolfhound Age

Fyodor A. Lukyanov

Repercussions of the Revolution

Breaking Out of the Vicious Circle

Sergey K. Dubinin

“Nothing Is Inevitable”

Revolution, War and Empire

Running Ahead and Rolling Back

“Sooner or Later We’ll Find an Alternative to Capitalism”

Ideas and Life

From Last to First?

Alexander Baunov

The Death of Postmodernism

Dmitry Slapentokh

The Hierarchy of Equals

Looking for Someone to Talk to

Alexander V. Solovyov

Ultimate Fighting

Russia and the U.S.: The Way Forward

Konstantin Khudoley

The Greater Evil

Konstantin V. Asmolov

Strategic Stability Revisited

Pavel Zolotarev

A Tranquilizer with a Scent of Gunpowder

Prokhor Yu. Tebin

National Identity

To Understand Ukraine

Dmitry V. Trenin

Politics of Memory, Kiev Style

Alexander Voronovich, Dmitry V. Yefremenko

Irredentism and the Crisis of National Identity

Alexei I. Miller

Articles

A Wolfhound Age

As the centenary of the Russian Revolution of 1917 was drawing nearer, many remembered the magic of numbers and looked forward to hearing a metaphysical echo of those events. Fortunately, no cataclysms occurred, but the important occasion sparked discussions not only on history but also on modernity. In fact, many compare current sociopolitical transformations to those that precipitated the dramatic changes in the early 20th century.

Fyodor A. Lukyanov

Breaking Out of the Vicious Circle

Everything seems to have changed in Russia over the past one hundred years. The social and economic systems were scrapped and built anew twice, and the political system was overhauled three times. Yet the answers to the main questions “Who is to blame?” and “What is to be done?” remain pretty much the same as before.

Sergey K. Dubinin

“Nothing Is Inevitable”

French cultural life of the 19th and the 20th centuries rested on the assumption that the revolution was still unfolding. The same is true, to a far greater extent, of the Russian Revolution.

Revolution, War and Empire

Had Russia been one of the victor powers, the post-war order would have been far more stable. Had the Franco-Russian alliance survived to sustain that order, then the rise of Hitler and Europe’s descent into a second great war would very probably have been avoided.

Running Ahead and Rolling Back

Counterrevolution seizes its enemy’s popular slogans, methods of organizing mass political campaigns, and protest symbols. It must take into account that Great Revolutions, including the Russian ones, have made people accept a revolution as a legitimate way to change an unfair order.

“Sooner or Later We’ll Find an Alternative to Capitalism”

What we should learn from the Russian Revolution as a major event in human history is that it was a concerted effort to get rid of that monster—capitalism. Capitalism produces enormous inequality and, as Marx predicted, misery at the bottom.

From Last to First?

As it aspires to join the elite world club of equal sovereigns, Russia cannot but notice an important fact that no such club actually exists. The simple reason is that the club’s membership is conditioned on mutual transparency and permeability of sovereignties and correlation of sovereign actions with the values understood as the red lines in what one says and does.

Alexander Baunov

The Death of Postmodernism

The masses became increasingly unruly and unwilling to be led in a “postmodernist” way. The elite cannot accept this. Thus, it was proclaimed that Western “postmodernism” had been overtaken by Russian “postmodernism,” even more cunning and sophisticated.

Dmitry Slapentokh

The Hierarchy of Equals

Moscow needs to revise its attitude to the key element of the former world order based on the centers of power—the concept of zones of exclusive influence. This will help it neutralize negative processes in the post-Soviet space, a region which it considers a zone of its exclusive influence.

Looking for Someone to Talk to

Dialogue (in its original meaning) can hardly be regarded as an effective instrument for handling urgent political crises “right here and now.” Nevertheless, the “strategic,” communicative potential of dialogue, though in little demand today, remains significant.

Alexander V. Solovyov

Russia and the U.S.: The Way Forward

Overcoming the legacy of the Cold War, during which several generations grew up, proved much more difficult than was expected. That Russian-U.S. relations have been thrown far back does not meet anyone’s interests, but finding a way out of this impasse will take time, goodwill and breakthrough ideas.

Konstantin Khudoley

The Greater Evil

Russia loses the least from a nuclear North Korea. This is why, on the one hand, it should take measures to avoid a conflict, and on the other, pursue a prudent strategy so that a conflict, should it break out, affects Russia less than other geopolitical rivals.

Konstantin V. Asmolov

Strategic Stability Revisited

There is every reason to argue that the existing approach to strategic stability based on sustaining the state of mutually assured destruction has already become an impediment to the bilateral nuclear weapons reduction regime and is completely unfit for the transition to a multilateral framework of nuclear arms negotiations.

Pavel Zolotarev

A Tranquilizer with a Scent of Gunpowder

If the U.S. and NATO continue to step up their activity near Russia’s borders, it would have to take extra measures to ensure the security. As a result, Russia and NATO would wind up as hostages to a security dilemma, and the risk of conflict would rise.

Prokhor Yu. Tebin

To Understand Ukraine

The establishment of independent Ukrainian and Belarusian statehood facilitates the development of Russia’s own national project, which is oriented towards the future, rather than towards the restoration of the past. Its key foreign policy feature is real sovereignty and the freedom of geopolitical maneuvering.

Dmitry V. Trenin

Politics of Memory, Kiev Style

In the political turmoil of recent years, the Ukrainian authorities have been harshly cracking down on the alternative historical memory kept by millions of people in the country. Even after the loss of Crimea and part of Donbass Ukraine cannot be considered a consolidated nation with one identity and a common view on history.

Alexander Voronovich, Dmitry V. Yefremenko

Irredentism and the Crisis of National Identity

Irredentism may cause all the risks stemming from the strong identity of a great power and its imperial heritage, which fuels the temptation to regard the modern borders as “casually drawn” and “unfair,” to get mixed with nationalism. This is a very dangerous cocktail.

Alexei I. Miller