Russia, Europe and the Ontological Security Dilemma: Narrating the Emerging Eurasian Space (original) (raw)

Russia_Europe_and_the_Ontological.pdf

Russia, Europe and the Ontological Security Dilemma: Narrating the Emerging Eurasian Space, 2018

The aim of this essay is twofold. First, it seeks to examine how Russia and the European Union understand the emerging Eurasian space. We will do this by looking at how the two narrate the space, the use of power and each other. Second, we want to argue that the narratives at the heart of the conceptual and normative maps that guide their actions and behaviour create an essentially ontological security dilemma; that is, behaviour aimed primarily at enhancing confidence in the identity and continuity of a political community threatens the ontological security of other actors.

Mission saves us all: Great Russia and Global Britain dealing with ontological insecurity

International Relations, 2022

In this paper we analyse a situation wherein the political establishments of Russia and the United Kingdom, in the face of ontological insecurity, use narratives with messianic overtones in their foreign policies. Although these narratives do not feature prominently in the official discourse, they are nevertheless noticeable and provide a valuable insight into dynamics of national identity. We call them 'mission narratives' and interpret their (re)appearance in foreign policy as a reaction to a 'critical situation' which undermines the stability of the autobiographical narrative of both countries. Although different in scope and nature, the fall of the USSR and the Brexit referendum both resulted in the status and identity of the two states being questioned. Both countries reacted by emphasising their special role in the world. Referring to mission in foreign policy strengthens a coherent autobiographic narrative which soothes ontological uncertainties.

The Ontological Foundation of Eurasia Geopolitica RU

Related links Related links Nikolay Danilevsky and the Eurasian Idea Eurasia and Eurasianism in the 21st Century: Security, Identity, and Alliance Culture Counter-hegemonic visions of Neo-Eurasianism Slavdom and the Question of Eurasia Muhammad Iqbal, Eurasianity, and the Fourth Way IDEOLOGY

Relations between Lithuania and Russia: the Ontological Security Perspective

appears to be irrational within the (neo-)realist framework and thus in need of an alternative explanation. Finally, I will apply the ontological security theory to the case, in support of the argument that relations with Russia have from the very start been characterized by ontological insecurity, which stemmed from the incompatibility of historical narratives and resulted in the routinization of conflict.

Belarus as a liminal space for Russia's ontological security before and after the 2020 protests

2021

The article uses the ontological security framework and the concept of liminality to analyze Belarus' liminal status visa -vis Russia and the role it has played in Russia's ontological security seeking before and after the 2020 Belarus Awakening. It argues that while the entire near-abroad, and, in particular, Ukraine have been important in terms of Russia's post-imperial ontological security seeking strategies, Belarus occupies a unique position with respect to Russia's securitized identity because of its perfectly marginal or liminal status. This has to do with the fact that, in the Russian geopolitical gaze, Belarus has remained almost unseparated from the Russian Self. Furthermore, the 2020 protests challenged this status but did not entirely eliminate it, leading to a restructuration of Belarus' liminality.

Revisiting the Ontology of Russia's Heartland Geopolitics in its Contemporaneity

European Journal of Geopolitics, 2020

The paper aims at assessing the long duree of Russian geopolitics from the perspective of the Heartland model as envisaged by Sir Mackinder. This was modeled in order to give an alarmist view about the locational supremacy of Russia over the Eurasian Heartland. But, the Heartland model has had many arguments that pointed to the approach long-seated before Mackinder could deploy them for the West. The paper looks at the conceptualization of Eurasianism or Russian geopolitical thought as an ontological praxis of Heartland thesis. The ethno-religious base of Slavism and Russian Orthodoxy made a complex compromise with the Asian peoples in order to strike multiple balances both in the European theatre and the Euro-Asian realm at large. The Heartland signified a perennial contest between western democracies and the Asiatic authoritarianism. Russia inherited this geo-cultural repository and worked with China giving rise to bigger Heartland discourse.

Civilizations as Ontological Security? Stories of the Russian Trauma

The study addresses the phenomenon of civilizational discourses in Russia from the perspective of ontological security theories. It argues that the discourse on “Russian civilization” or the “Russian world” is a form of establishment identity-building practices that marries a culturalist vision of Russia to narratives of traumas or ruptures in its biographical narrative. Thus, the holistic notion of a civilization is an attempt to construct unity across ideological, spatial, and societal cleavages associated with the disintegration of the Soviet Union and earlier critical points in Russian history. The article further argues that much of the discourse on the “Russian world” produces a notably “securitized” or “closed” identity that resists change and inhibits Russia’s adaptation to its postimperial circumstances.