Hard-line Eurasianism and Russia's contending geopolitical perspectives

East European Quarterly

Volumn 32, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 315-334

  Tsygankov, Andrei P ^a  

^a MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY   (Russian Federation)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0000148246     PISSN: 00128449     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (110)

1. See Aleksei Arbatov, "Russian Foreign Policy Alternatives," International Security, 18 (1993);
2. Suzanne Crow, "Why Has Russian Foreign Policy Changed?" RFE/RL Research Report, 3 (1994), No. 18;
3. David Kerr, "The New Eurasianism: The Rise of Geopolitics in Russia's Foreign Policy," Europe-Asia Studies, 47 (1995), No. 6;
4. Oleg Kovalev, "Russian 'Realism': Theory and Policy Preferences" (University of Delaware, 1996).
5. "Eurasianism," the result of the belief of its supporters in a special geopolitical role for Russia as a bridge between Europe and Asia.
6. See Nickolas Riasanovsky, The Emergence of Eurasianism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967).
7. See Alexander Rahr, "'Atlanticists' versus 'Eurasians' in Russian Foreign Policy," RFE/RL Research Report, 22 (1992), No. 1;
8. Hans Timmerman, "Rossiiskaia vneshnaia politika: poiski novoi identichnosti," Mirovaia ekonomika I mezhdunarodniie otnosheniia, 2 (1994);
9. Kerr, "The New Eurasianism...."
10. It is worth noting that the Eurasianism as an intellectual movement is extremely diverse and includes supporter of very different political views, some of which can be considered fairly liberal or moderate, while others imperialist and anti-Western. Those interested in the liberal version of Eurasianism, see, for example: Aleksandr Panarin, "Mezhdu atlantizmom i evraziistvom," Svobodnaia misl', 11 (1993);
11. Aleksandr Panarin, "Zapadniki I Ievraziitsi," Obschestvenniie nauki i sovremennost', 11 (1993);
12. Aleksandr Panarin, "Rossiia v evrasii: geopoliticheskiie vizovi I tsivilizatsionniie otveti," Voprosi filosofii, 12 (1994);
13. Dmitrii Samuilov, "Mezh-tsivilizatsionnii podhod," Nezavisimaia gazeta, April 29, 1994;
14. Dmitrii Samuilov, "Neizbezhno li stolknoveniie tsivilizatsii," SshA, 1-2 (1995). This version would probably be somewhat closer to the Western liberals, since liberal Eurasianists have their respect to democracy and human rights. This paper, for the above-described reasons, will focus exclusively on the phenomenon of a hard-line Eurasianism and, therefore, use the labels "Eurasianists" and "hard-line Eurasianists" interchangeably.
15. The subtitle of one of the major publications of hard-line Eurasianists, the newspaper Den' (Day) reads "the newspaper of spiritual opposition."
16. See for example Rahr, "Atlanticists..."; Timmerman, "Rossiiskaia...."
17. After the October 1993 crisis, the weekly began to appear under the title "Zavtra" (Tomorrow). The reason being that during the October crisis the weekly fiercely challenged the Yeltsin decision to dissolve parliament and as a result was banned by Yeltsin's decree.
18. See Shamil' Sultanov, "Dukh Ievraziista," Nash Sovremennik, 7 (1992);
19. Aleksandr Dugin, Aleksandr, "Krim prinadlezhit Evrazii," Zavtra, 6 (1994);
20. "Rossiiskaia natsiia na poroge tret'ego tisiacheletiia," Kentavr, 2 (1993);
21. Anatolii Glivakovskii, "Rossiiskaia natsionalnaia bezopasnost i geopolitika," Kentavr, 5 (1991).
22. Applying Western concepts, such as "realists," or "rationalists," to a non-Western empirical reality has of course its cost. This application should be treated as an analytical exercise for the purpose of classifying Russian foreign policy schools in a systematic way, and, therefore, it will not always be able to capture what is culturally specific and never what is culturally unique for Russia.
23. Robert O. Keohane, ed. Neorealism and Its Critics (New York: Columbia University Press, 1986), p. 7.
24. For Western realists, "power has to be defined in terms of distribution of capabilities," specifically, "military, economic, and technological capabilities." See for example, Kenneth N. Waltz, Theory of International Politics (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1979), p. 192;
25. Robert Gilpin, War and Change in World Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 13.
26. See for example, Ann J. Tickner, "Hans Morgenthau's Principles of Political Realism," in James Der-Derian, ed., International Theory: Critical Investigations (New York: New York University Press, 1995), p. 59.
27. Shamil' Sultanov, "Dukh Ievraziista";
28. see similar claims in: Leonid Abalkin, "O Rossiiskikh natsionalno-gosudarstvennih interesah," Voprosi ekonomiki, 2 (1994);
29. El'giz Pozdniakov, "Natsiia, gosudarstvo, natsionalniie interesi, Rossiia," Voprosi ekonomiki, 2 (1994).
30. Shamil' Sultanov and Aleksandr Prokhanov, "Izmenitsia chtobi vizhit'," Den', 6 (1991).
31. See for example Waltz, Theory of International Politics;
32. Gilpin, War and Change, p. 26.
33. Sultanov, "Dukh Ievraziista."
34. Along with assumptions of power as an end in itself or as a means to other ends; and states as the key units of actions, the assumption of rational behavior is an essential components of the Western realism (Keohane makes this point in Neorealism and Its Critics, p. 7). These assumptions were inherited from classical realists such as Thucydides, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Thomas Hobbes.
35. Abalkin, "O Rossiiskikh...."
36. The first issue of Elementi was specifically devoted to intellectual sources of modern Eurasianism. See: Elementi, 1 (1992).
37. The "New Thinking" was heavily influenced by American neoliberal interdependence theories. Gorbachev's and Yakovlev's foreign policy advisors such as Nikolay Kosolapov and Georgi Shakhnazarov read Joseph Nye and Robert O. Keohane Transnational Relations and World Politics (1972) and applied its basic assumptions in designing the foreign policy speeches of Gorbachev and Shevardnadze. After Gorbachev came to power, Nye was one of the first non-Marxist international relations' theorists to publish a few of his article in the leading Russian journal MEiMO.
38. One is struck by the similarity of their reflection on the balance of power with Morgenthau's writings and on what used to be the stability of bipolar world with the famous Kenneth Waltz's lines. See as an example Shamil' Sultanov, "Tretia mirovaia voina uzhe nachalas'," Zavtra, 18 (1995).
39. Except Andrei Sakharov's works on the World Coexistence, Progress, and Intellectual Freedom and Vernadski's work on Noosphera, it is hard to recall any other domestic sources of Gorbachev's international thinking.
40. As cited in: Aleksandr Dugin, "Velikaia voina kontinentov," Den', 4, 5 (1992).
41. See on this subject: Riasanovsky, Den', op. cit.;
42. Igor Torbakov, "The 'Statists' and the Ideology of Russian Imperial Nationalism," RFE/RL Research Report, 1, No. 49 (1992).
43. Nikolai Gumilev, Ot Rusi k Rossii (Moskva: Politizdat, 1992);
44. Nikolai Gumilev, Etnogenez I biosfera zemli (Sankt-Peterburg: Gidrometeoizdat, 1990);
45. Nikolai Gumilev, "Ritmi Evrazii," Nash Sovremennik, 4 (1993).
46. As cited in: Igor Shishkin, "Obscheievropeiski dom: vot bog, a vot porog," Zavtra, 45 (1994).
47. I am grateful to Martha Little for suggesting these labels.
48. These labels are by no means comprehensive. Modernizers are also in favor of territorial expansion, at least, within the former Soviet Union, while Expansionists realize the importance of technological development as long as it serves to the purpose of the geopolitical expansion. Yet I find these labels appropriate to characterize the key priorities of two wing within Eurasianism.
49. See for example Sultanov, "Dukh Ievraziista";
50. Sergei Kurginian, "Esli ne imperiia, to nichto," Zavtra (1994).
51. Different means can be selected for achieving this goal. One way, as Oleg Shirgazin suggests, is to support the Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev's initiative to perform the economic and political integration of the major former Soviet republics and thus form a Eurasian Union. See for example, Oleg Shirgazin, "Imperativ Evraziistva," Zavtra, 36 (1994).
52. Sultanov, "Dukh Ievraziista"
53. Sultanov, "Tretia mirovaia...."
54. Shamil' Sultanov, "Vizov imperii," Den', 33 (1992).
55. They flesh out physical, cultural, religious, economic, territorial, and fururo-logical components of national security (Sultanov, Prohkanov, "Izmenitsia chtobi vizhit'..."; Abalkin, "Rossiiskiie natsionalno-godudarstvenniie interest...") - compare with Morgenthau's geography, natural resources, industrial capacity, national character, etc. as elements of national power (Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations. The Struggle for Power and Peace (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985).
56. Eurasianist language and arguments of interdependence between negligence to components of national security and growing conflicts (Sultanov, ".Vizov imperii ...") are also similar with Morganthau's interdependence between personal insecurity and social disintegration (Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations, pp. 122-123).
57. Barrington Moore, Jr., Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (Boston: Little, Brown, 1966);
58. Alexander Gerschenkron, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1963).
59. Prokhanov, Sultanov, "Izmenitsia, chtobi...";
60. Oleg Sergeiev, "Backward Forever?" Den', 33 (1992).
61. Jack Snyder and Peter Gourevich provide good overview of theories of late and late, late modernization (See Jack Snyder, Myths of Empire. Domestic Politics and International Ambition [Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1991], p. 56-58);
62. Peter Gourevich, "The Second Image Reversed: The International Sources of Domestic Politics," International Organization, 32, Winter (1977).
63. Aleksandr Prokhanov, "'Tretii Rim' ili 'Respubblika Rus'," Zavtra, 22 (1995).
64. Sultanov, Prokhanov, "Izmenitsia, chtobi...."
65. El'giz Pozdniakov, ed. Geopolitika: teoriia i praktika (Moskva: IMEMO, 1993).
66. El'giz Pozdniakov, "Geopoliticheskii kollaps I Rossiia," Mezhdunarodnaia zhizn', 8-9 (1992).;
67. Prokhanov, "'Tretii Rim' ili...."
68. Aleksandr Dugin, "Serbiia: konservativnaia revolutsiia," Den', 44 (1992).
69. Sergei Kurginian, "Tseli I tsennosti," Den', 24 (1991).
70. Aleksandr Dugin, "Konservativnaia revolutsiia. Kratkaia istoriia ideologii tret'ego puti," Elementi, 1 (1992);
71. Dugin, Serbiia...; Vadim Shtepa, "Zametki neokonservatora," Nash sovremennik, 5 (1992);
72. Vadim Shtepa, "Departiizatsiia," Nash sovremennik, 8 (1992).
73. As cited in: Torbakov, "The 'Statists' and...," p. 1.
74. Jan Tiriar, "Evropa do Vladivostoka," Den', 34 (1992);
75. Jan Tiriar, "Tezisi," Elementi, 1 (1992).
76. "Rossiia i prostranstvo," Elementi, 4 (1993).
77. Aleksandr Dugin, "Sumerki geroiev. Pominaia Zhana Tiriara," Den', 3 (1993).
78. Dugin, "Velikaia voina kontinentov...."
79. See also Anatolii Glivakovski, "Okno v Evropu cherez svalku," Den', 16 (1993).
80. "Evraziiskoie soprotivleniie," Den', 2 (1992).
81. "Evraziiskoie soprotivleniie..."; see also Jan Tiriar, Yegor Ligachev, "Poka voina prodolzhaietsia, voina ne proigrana," Den', 37 (1992).
82. Dugin, "Serbiia: konservatiynaia revolutsiia...."
83. Aleksandr Dugin, "Apologiia natsionalizma," Den', 38 (1993).
84. Nikolai Lysenko, "Tsel' - velikaia imperiia," Den', 17 (1993).
85. See on this subject, George J. Demko and William B Wood, Reordering the World. Geopolitical Perspectives on the Twenty-First Century (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1994), p. 8;
86. Andrew Linklater, "Neo-realism in Theory and Practice," in Ken Booth and Steve Smith, eds., International Relations Theory Today (University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), p. 250.
87. This section is based on the part of my paper "Between Liberal Internationalism and Revolutionary Expansionism: The Foreign Policy Discourse of Contemporary Russia" (forthcoming).
88. Andrei Karagodin, "Otkroveniia mondialistov," Zavtra, 36 (1994).
89. Sultanov, "Vizov imperii...."
90. Karagodin, "Otkroveniia mondialistov...."
91. Sultanov, "Tretia mirovaia voina...."
92. See Sultanov, "Tretia mirovaia...";
93. Pozdnyakov, "Geopoliticheskii kollaps...."
94. See "Ievraziiskoie soprotivleniie..."; Sultanov, "Tretia mirovaia...."
95. Sultanov, "Tretia mirovaia...."
96. Sultanov, Prokhanov, "Izmenitsia, chtobi vizhit'...."
97. "Rossiia i prostranstvo," Elementi, 3 (199), p. 33.
98. Tiriar, "Ievropa do Vladivostoka...."
99. "Rossiia i prostranstvo," pp. 31-32.
100. See Abalkin, "O Rossiiskikh...," pp. 12-14;
101. Sultanov, "Tretia mirovaia...";
102. Pozdniakov, "Geopoliticheskii kollaps...";
103. Pozdniakov, Geopolitka....
104. See the polemic between Dugin and Sultanov in: "Ievraziiskoie soprotivleniie...."
105. Sultanov, "Tretia mirovaia...";
106. Gilpin, War and Change....
107. Aleksandr Dugin, "Potomu chto mi liubim tebia, revolutsiia," Den', 19 (1993).
108. "Evraziiskoie soprotivlenie..."
109. "Rossiia i prostranstvo," p. 33.
110. "Rossiia i prostranstvo," pp. 33-34.