ISSN 2618-9844 (Online version)
ISSN 1810-6374 (Print version)
Leonid Grigoriev is chief advisor to the head of the Analysis Center under the Government of the Russian Federation, Head of the World Economy Chair of the World Economy and International Affairs Department of the National Research University–Higher School of Economics.
Ukraine’s main chance of entering Europe not as a source of labor force, but as a moderately developed industrialized country will be to go ahead with exports to Russia and other countries where Ukrainian manufactures are in demand.
Russia is in a precarious position: although formally enshrined in legislation, quite legal private property very often is not considered to be legitimate. The “unfair” procedures that brought about the emergence of mammoth private wealth during the privatization period breeds distrust in the authorities, the laws it adopts, and the measures it takes.
The interaction within BRICS has drawn a variety of comments – from sarcasm to the expectation of miracles. But the aggravation of problems with the sustainability of global development in 2008-2013 has brought the role of those states into the limelight to show that global decisions will not be necessarily found inside Bretton-Woods institutions or the OECD.
Russia’s role in the world financial architecture is unlikely to be as significant as many would wish it to be, but given sensible alliances and compromises, it may become quite sufficient for protecting its national interests. The current situation should be used to modernize Russia’s own financial system, increase its resistance to external shocks, and its ability to convert internal savings into domestic investments in development.
Attempts to overcome a serious crisis and launch the process of modernization can be compared to trying to climb out of a deep well. Neither the state, nor business nor civil society can climb out on its own. The three forces will only be able to move upward if they realize that they must pool their efforts to transform the country – keeping in mind that they should not climb over each other, or they will fall back down into the well.
Inherent weaknesses of the newly independent countries include not only high social costs and poor product quality, but also a shortage of managerial capital with the experience and abilities required to successfully compete on the global market.
The intricate overlapping of economic ties, corporate relations and political problems has made the issue of Gazprom’s relations with gas consumers in the CIS countries very difficult, and here we have an interesting case where the Russian side is objectively interested in depoliticizing economic relations.
Russia clearly needs to rely on a couple dozen big and prosperous cities capable of developing rapidly in some key areas. These cities are located especially near seas and oceans, and at communication hubs in important border areas. It is equally important that they have a business and political elite with a sense of local patriotism; individuals who are not prepared to jump ship and move to Moscow at any moment, while sending their offspring abroad with the bulk of their capital.
Issues involving the development and modernization of the Russian economy came to the forefront of public debate as Russia recorded its fifth consecutive year of economic growth. Russia has extensive resources but few variants for using them.
Russia and Europe are now economically more dependent upon each other than ever before. For the first time, energy imports have become very vital for the European economy, and this importance will continue growing in the future. Russia, the main supplier of energy resources to the EU, is no less dependent on Europe
The developing world, now Russia included, will not catch up with the developed countries. At the turn of the millennium the growth rates of the three main groups of states evened up. This means that the gap between them is being preserved rather than narrowed and that their drawing closer together is practically impossible. The chance to make a breakthrough by channeling the resources made available by the end of the Cold War was lost. .
Despite eight years of horrific conflict, and over 500,000 thousand deaths, a stable peace in Syria remains elusive.
The presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran convened for their fourth summit on Syria in Russia’s southern resort city of Sochi on Feb. 14. Earlier leaders of the “guarantor countries” of the Astana process met in November 2017 in Sochi, in April 2018 in Ankara and in September 2018 in Tehran.
Anyone who has at least some idea about the theory of international relations should remember the oft-quoted formula put forward by the father of British geopolitics, Halford Mackinder: “Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island; who rules the World-Island commands the world.”
Relations between the US and Russia are at their worst since the end of the Cold War, China and the US have tense relations, India and China are trying to stabilize relations after a period of acrimony. The major powers appear today to be like the unhappy families in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina: ‘Each unhappy family (major power in this case) is unhappy in its own way.’
Freedom of movement and freedom to choose a place of residence can be ranked among the category of freedoms which, as part of the Global Commons, have been restricted to varying degrees at the level of communities, states, and international associations.