Geopolitics in Space and Time

Digital Communication Disrupting Hegemonic Power in Global Geopolitics

The Logic of Counterpoint

Between Polycentrism and Bipolarity

The world of the future will be more complex and volatile than it looked just 20-30 years ago. There will be enough room for a variety of combinations by different world policy actors cooperating with each other in different formats. The concept of multilaterality might become one of the guidelines to follow in this process.

The “Belt and Road” in Russia: Evolution of Expert Discourse

The implementation of the “Belt and Road” initiative became dependent on the pro et contra balance that is not conducive to cooperation for the time being. “Gains and prospects” are abstract, while “risks and threats,” on the contrary, are quite concrete and cannot be ignored.

“Civilizational Realism”

Within the framework of “civilizational realism” existing contradictions between Russia and the West could be solved by reaching an agreement with the “civilizational leaders” of the Euro-Atlantic region to create a demilitarized buffer zone made up of limitrophe Eastern European states.

Marginalization in Globalization

Even the most controversial Chinese assessments concerning Russian diplomacy are of interest as they are formulated not from the Western point of view but from the position of China as a new rising power seeking to create its own specific national style in diplomacy.

A Rapidly Changing Reality

The world is not in disarray, it is in transition. As wealth and power move to the South and the East again after a couple of centuries, the validity of some normative assumptions and the efficacy of incumbent institutions that manage the world order is being severely tested.

A new world order: A view from Russia

Since around 2017–2018, the world has been living through a period of progressive erosion, or collapse, of international orders inherited from the past. With the election of Donald Trump and the rapid increase of US containment of Russia and China—which is both a consequence of this gradual erosion and also represents deep internal and international contradictions—this process entered its apogee.

How to Win a Cold War

It is about time to draft a truly new foreign policy concept as the previous narrative has exhausted itself, being more of a ritual than a guide to action. Russia needs “strategic patience” as never before.

Russia can be the honest broker in Korean diplomacy

Only joint efforts with US, China, North and South Korea will bring a lasting deal

The Loneliness of the Half-Breed

Russia had spent four centuries moving East and then another four centuries moving West. Attempts to take root failed in either case. Both roads were tried. These days the demand will be for third-way ideologies, third-type civilizations, a third world, a third Rome…

Infrastructure Connectivity and Political Stability in Eurasia

The country’s geographic location largely predetermines its foreign policy, as well as the trajectory of its socioeconomic development. However, even the most negative geographical limitations can be overcome via connectivity and compatibility that are the passport to the success of Eurasian integration.

Endless Endgame: Whither Russia-West Confrontation?

The world’s future is currently endangered by numerous fundamental threats, yet Western democracies fear only one – Vladimir Putin.

Traveling in Different Boats

Relations between Russia and the United States are acquiring a new quality. Moscow and Washington can cooperate on certain individual issues, but strategically they are now on their own—certainly not in the same boat.

The Undying Echo of the Past

There is a great risk of getting mired in counterproductive discussions about the frontiers of the European model of historical development. References to the history of one region or another or one nation or another as “European” or “non-European” are unscrupulously used today inside the EU itself and along its periphery when it comes to discussing whether the region or nation deserves to be a member of a united Europe.

A New Epoch of Confrontation

Many analysts in Moscow argue that the political and propaganda pressure being exerted by the West on Russia is the result of Russia’s growth. But this Western pressure is more of a counterattack against Russia than a direct attack intended to prevent a further weakening of the West’s positions and possibly win them back. This counterattack is an important constituent feature of a “New Epoch of Confrontation.”

On Geopolitical Configurations in Asia

The name Asia might be a misnomer by Ancient Greeks’ standards, but the homogenous nature of this area is quite visible.

US-Russia-Turkey Dynamics in Syria After ‘Olive Branch’: One Door Closes, Another Opens

In recent months, the Kremlin’s priorities in Syria have shifted from fighting a long war to seeking a quick peace.

Securing the Digital Transition

Within a few decades, the Internet has transformed the global economy and rendered the old Westphalian order increasingly obsolete. But without a new governance framework to manage cyber threats and abuses, what has been a boon to globalization could become its undoing.

Russia's Changing Relations with the West: Prospects for a New Hybrid System

At the end of 2016, both the political and expert communities in Russia appeared to be very pessimistic about the future of the world order in general, and the about the future of the West in particular.

Insights and Recommendations

This compilation is meant as a sampling of Graham’s views. The quotes below are divided into categories similar to those in Russia Matters’ news and analysis digests, reflecting the most pertinent topic areas for U.S.-Russian relations broadly and for drivers of the two countries’ policies toward one another.

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.

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.

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.

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.

When Washington Assured Russia NATO Would Not Expand

How America's failure to honor a 1990 commitment led to many of today's global crises.

Conditionality Beyond Sanctions

Identifying and Pursuing Interests in the EU-Russia Relationship.

The Demise of Ukraine’s “Eurasian Vector” and the Rise of Pro-NATO Sentiment

Before 2014, the majority of Ukrainians did not view the goal of European integration as a “national idea.” Even so, most Ukrainians had positive views about developing relations with and integrating into the EU.

Plural but equal in everyone’s world: Dialogue in Sochi – or Information Warfare by Other Means?

Geopolitical pluralism, in all its continentally and regionally uneven permutations is the global reality in what passes for ‘no one’s world’ (Charles Kupchan) and/or a ‘world in disarray’ (Richard Haas) when in fact, there is an evolving underlying logic to a multipolar landscape in what should be considered ‘everyone’s world.’