Russian Energy Policy in the South Caucasus (original) (raw)

Major Trends in Russian Geopolitics after 1991

Major Trends in Russian Geopolitics After 1991, “Politeja” 2019, nr 4, s. 141-160., 2019

Russian geopolitical thought after the collapse of the USSR can be classified in different ways. However, it always remains under the influence of the same conditions (the trauma of a historical downfall) and proposes clear indications for the foreign policy of the state. The article presents a preliminary view of some directions in Russian geopolitical thought from the point of view of their origin. The study focuses on seven trends: the visions of Great Russia in a multipolar world order, Neo-Eurasianism, the insular theory, military geo-politics, the thought of political geographers, the geopolitics of the Russian World doctrine with its varieties in the form of information geopolitics and cy-ber-geopolitics, and, last but not least, geoeconomics. A typological study of contemporary Russian geopolitical thought reveals two developmental tendencies: one aiming at radical and ideological concepts and the other proposing a semi-scientific approach.

Main Trends in Russian Geopolitics after 1991

Politeja

Russian geopolitical thought after the collapse of the USSR can be classified in different ways. However, it always remains under the influence of the same conditions (the trauma of a historical downfall) and proposes clear indications for the foreign policy of the state. The article presents a preliminary view of some directions in Russian geopolitical thought from the point of view of their origin. The study focuses on seven trends: the visions of Great Russia in a multipolar world order, Neo-Eurasianism, the insular theory, military geopolitics, the thought of political geographers, the geopolitics of the Russian World doctrine with its varieties in the form of information geopolitics and cyber- geopolitics, and, last but not least, geoeconomics. A typological study of contemporary Russian geopolitical thought reveals two developmental tendencies: one aiming at radical and ideological concepts and the other proposing a semi-scientific approach.

The Rise of Geopolitics in Russia in the Post-Cold War Period

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a lot of books including “geopolitics” in their titles started to be published in Russia. Some academicians and political philosophers tried to introduce the Russian public with the basic tenets and the founding fathers of geopolitical theory. Politicians did not remain indifferent to these publications either. The Russian Foreign and Defence Ministries, the military and Russian Duma increasingly embraced geopolitical theories, mostly in their traditional forms. Geopolitics attracted significant attention from the opposition parties in the Duma, and for some time it was almost “monopolized by the so-called national-patriots and left-wing activists.” It has almost become an indispensable vision for Russian politicians from different parts of the political spectrum as observed in several popular political ideas of the time: Gennady Zyuganov’s communist “Derzhava”, Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s nationalist “Last Re-partition”, Yevgeny Primakov’s realist “Multipolarity” and Alexander Dugin’s expansionist “Russian/Eurasian Empire”.

Russia, the Western world and the Past-Soviet Countries

2019

The post-Soviet space represents one of the most important and conceptual challenges of the Foreign policy of the USA and Russia. Even after 25 years from the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia remains committed to the Monroe's doctrine-like policy that puts the aspiration of Western governments and business circles to enter the region, on the same level as invasion of the backyard of its own house, which proofs that it does not fully recognize the sovereignty of the post-Soviet states. This kind of attitude of the Russian ruling elite is one of the main reasons for the tension between Russia and the West. The occupation of Georgian Territories by Russian troops in 2008 is one of the most striking examples of the fact that Russia preferred to demonstrate its influence over the post-Soviet space to cooperation with the West in the bilateral spheres of interest.