Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Institutions, Ideas and Leadership in Russian Politics pp 88–115Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Shortcut to Great Power: Russia in Pursuit of Multipolarity

  • Chapter

Part of the book series: St Antony’s Series ((STANTS))

Abstract

No major power embraces the concept of a multipolar world order as fully as Russia does. Nor does any go as far in its rhetorical efforts to revise the unipolar global structure. Since the mid-1990s, Russia has declared an abiding ambition to replace the US-dominated international order with a multipolar one, in which emerging powers — with Russia in the vanguard — would join the highest ranks of the global system. Increasingly, multipolarity has informed the intellectual foundations of Russian thinking about international relations and, in turn, influenced the shape and content of foreign policy. It has served as Moscow’s measuring stick for gauging Russian power relative to that of its competitors, not unlike the Soviet Union’s notion of the ‘correlation of East-West forces’. And it is viewed in Moscow as the best, if not the only, hedge against the emergence of narrow US-Chinese bipolarity, which could challenge and greatly circumscribe Russia.2

Phrase, ‘shortcut to greatness’, attributed to Deborah Welch Larson and Alexei Shevchenko. While their article specifically analyses the Gorbachev era, this article builds on and adapts their idea to the Putin era. From here on, the concept of Russian shortcuts and the expression, ‘shortcut to greatness’, are credited to them. See: Deborah Welch Larson and Alexei Shevchenko, ‘Shortcut to Greatness: The New Thinking and the Revolution in Soviet Foreign Policy’, International Organization, 57 (Winter 2003): 77–109.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. Dmitri Trenin stresses Russia’s ambivalence about China’s potential to dominate Russia. Dmitri Trenin: ‘Russia’s Threat Perception and Strategic Posture’ ( 25 January 2008 ), Carnegie Moscow Centre, www.carnegie.ru.

    Google Scholar 

  2. On Western mistakes and Russia’s luck: Sergei Karaganov, ‘A New Epoch of Confrontation’, Russia in Global Affairs, No. 4 (October–December 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  3. John Mearsheimer, ‘Back to the Future’, International Security, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Summer 1990): 2–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. We should point out that China was embraced by the West, while Russia was not. On China’s subsequent rejection of multipole diplomacy: Christophe Jaffelot, Jean-Philippe Beja, Julie Newton, ‘Cooperation or Collusion?: Russia, India and China in the 21st Century’, The American University of Paris, Conference Series (February–April 2008 ).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Sergei Lavrov, ‘Forget the Inferiority Complex’, Argumenty i fakty (13 April 2005), JRL (13 April 2005 ), http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson

    Google Scholar 

  6. Historically, ‘Russia’s tendency to fall behind in achieving the economic, scientific and technological benefits of globalisation revealed its weaknesses, which Russia’s leaders then sought to redress primarily through military and political means in its foreign policy’: Celeste Wallender, ‘What can Multipolarity’, in Robert Legvold, ed., Russian Foreign Policy in the Twenty-first Century and the Shadow of the Past ( New York: Columbia University Press, 2007 ), p. 444.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Evgeni Primakov, Gody v bolshoi politike [The Years in Big Politics] ( Moscow: Sovershenno Sekretno, 1999 ), pp. 212–15.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Julie Newton, Russia, France, and the Idea of Europe ( Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003 ), p. 239.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Term and question attributed to: Robert Legvold, ‘Russian Foreign Policy during Periods of Great State Transformation’, in Robert Legvold, ed., Russian Foreign Policy in the 21st Century and the Shadow of the Past (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), pp. 77–144, esp. 78, 131.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Richard Pipes, by stressing the deep roots and strength of Russian authoritarianism throughout its history, offers little hope that Russia can overcome that legacy in order to build enduring great power. Richard Pipes, Russian Conservatism and its Critics ( New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007 )

    Google Scholar 

  11. Russian mentality and behaviour change slowly, if at all, over time, regardless of the regime in power’: Richard Pipes, ‘Flight from Freedom: What Russians Think and Want’, Foreign Affairs (May/June 2004): 9–15.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Lilia Shevtsova puts particular stress on institutional weaknesses: Putin’s system (the roots laid by Yeltsin) is an ‘electoral monarchy’ atop ‘bureaucratic capitalism’, and is unsustainable, she claims. This type of system, if it retains its grasp on Russia, could lead Russia either to dictatorship or decay: Shevtsova, Lost in Transition: The Yeltsin and Putin Legacies (Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2007), pp. 107–11, 23. Others agree that this system has deep institutional weaknesses, but do not go so far as to suggest that this system cannot last. On the contrary, writers in this volume such as Ken Wilson, suggest Russia, like Mexico, could go on to be ruled by the same political party for years.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Dmitri Trenin, Getting Russia Right ( Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2007 ).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Russian foreign policy is geared to the fundamental goal of redoing Russia as a great power in modern conditions’. Hanna Smith, ‘What can Multipolarity and Multilateralism Tell Us about Russian Foreign Policy Interests’, in Hanna Smith (ed.), Russia and its Foreign Policy: Influences, Interests and Issues (Helsinki: Kikomora Publications, 2005), p. 36. Also: ‘Russia has residual superpower mentality’

    Google Scholar 

  15. Dmitri Trenin, ‘Russia redefines itself and its relations with the West’, The Washington Quarterly (1 March 2007), http://www.carnegie.ru/eng/print/75857-print.htm.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Vladimir Putin, ‘Russia at the Turn of the Millenium’, in First Person: An Astonishingly Frank Self Portrait by Russia’s President ( Moscow: Vargrius, 2000 ), p. 214.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Marshall Poe, The Russian Moment in World History ( Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003 ), p. 66.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Michael McFaul, ‘New Russia, New Threat’, Los Angeles Times (2 October 2007 ), www.carnegie.ru/en/print/76877.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Vladimir Putin, ‘Tver Meeting with Members of Youth Organisation’ (24 July 2007 ), www.kremlin.ru.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Vladimir Putin, ‘Speech…of National Unity Day’, Grand Kremlin Palace (4 November 2007 ), www.kremlin.ru/eng/text/speeches/2007/11/04/09.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Vladimir Putin, ‘Speech at the 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy’ (10 February 2007), Putin’s sharp comments dovetailed with the views of a wide range of elites, who shared his views of the West as actively anti-Russian. Even Alexei Arbatov, a liberal-minded international affairs specialist and former Deputy Chairman of the Duma’s Defence Committee, accused the West of meddling in Ukrainian and Georgian politics. He linked the colour revolutions in both Ukraine and Georgia to ‘the West’s active intervention…in Georgia and Ukraine in support of the most anti-Russian politicians in 2004–2006

    Google Scholar 

  22. Alexei Arbatov, ‘Moscow and Munich: A New Framework for Russian Domestic and Foreign Policies’, Working Papers No. 3 (2007), Carnegie Moscow Centre, p. 16.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Sergei Lavrov, ‘Stenogramma vystupleniya i otvetov na voprosy Ministra Innostrannykh Del Rossii S.V. Lavrova na seminare… v Moskovskom Tsentre Karnegi… 21 Iyunya 2007’ (21 June 2007 ), http://www.mid.ru/2fee282eb6df40e643256999005e6e8c/7d38603flcb584c

    Google Scholar 

  24. Dmitri Trenin: ‘Russia’s Threat Perception and Strategic Posture’ ( 25 January 2008 ), Carnegie Moscow Centre, http://www.carnegie.ru.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Cited by: Anne de Tinguy, Conference, ‘Le Projet de Puissance de la Russie: Enjeux, Réalites, et Implications Stratégiques’, Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique (2 October 2007 ), 85.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Vladimir Putin, ‘Valdai International Discussion Group’, Sochi (14 September 2007), www.kremlin.ru/engtext/speeches/2007/09/14/18. Emphasis added.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Alfred Rieber, ‘The Reforming Tradition in Russian History’, in A. Rieber, A. Rubinstein, ed., Perestroika at the Crossroads (M. E. Sharpe, 1991 ), p. 13.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Jeff Kahn, ‘What is the New Russian Federalism?’, in Archie Brown, ed., Contemporary Russian Politics: A Reader (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 374, 379.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Vladimir Putin, ‘Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation’ (25 April 2005 ), http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/text/speeches/2005/04/25.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Putin referred to Russia’s ‘time of troubles’ four centuries ago, and suggestively praised those who ended them: Vladimir Putin, ‘Speech at the State Reception devoted to National Unity Day’, The Kremlin (4 November 2006), http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/text/speeches/2006/11/04

    Google Scholar 

  31. In another speech (quoted in Moscow News), Putin referred explicitly to the Yeltsin period as Russia’s most recent ‘time of troubles’ and suggested his (Putin’s) leadership had led Russia out of its troubles: Anna Arutunyan, ‘Putin Plans for New Role’, Moscow News (4 October 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  32. Vladimir Putin, ‘Speech at the Reception on the Occasion of National Unity Day’, The Kremlin (4 November 2007 ), http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/text/speeches/2007/11/04/09.

    Google Scholar 

  33. These efforts consolidated into a political/economic strategy in 2003–2004 as energy prices sky-rocketed. The strategy gained ideological overtones in the wake of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in late 2004, early 2005. Andrei Denisov, ‘The Gains and Failures of Russia’s Energy Superpower’, Russia in Global Affairs, No. 2 (April–June 2008), http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/numbers/23/1197.html.

    Google Scholar 

  34. For an excellent discussion of Central Asia between the great powers: Robert Legvold, ‘Great Power Stakes in Central Asia’, Thinking Strategically: The Major Powers, Kazakhstan and the Central Asian Nexus ( Boston: MIT Press, 2004 ), pp. 1–38.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Jonathan Haslam, No Virtue like Necessity: Realist Thought from Machiavelli to the Present ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002 )

    Google Scholar 

  36. nuanced realist view: William Wohlforth, ‘The End of the Cold War as a Hard Case for Ideas’, Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Spring 2005 ), pp. 165–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Jan-Werner Müller, ‘Introduction: The Power of Memory, the Memory of Power and the Power over Memory’, in Jan-Werner Müller, ed., Memory and Power in Post-War Europe ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ), p. 18.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Robert English, ‘The Sociology of New Thinking’, Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Spring 2005), p. 74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Alexander Wendt, Social Theory of International Relations ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000 ), pp. 336–43.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Julie Newton, ‘ForumduFuture’ Conference, Assemblée Nationale de France (23 June 2005); English, ‘The Sociology of New Thinking’, p. 74.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Iver B. Neumann, ‘Russia as a Great Power’, in J. Hedenskog, V. Konnander, B. Nygren, I. Oldberg, Pursiainen, ed., Russia as a Great Power ( London: Routledge, 2005 ), pp. 23–5.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Andrei Kozyrev, ‘Rossiya i SShA: Partnerstvo ne prezhdevremenno, a zapazdyvayet’, Izvestiya (11 March 1994), p. 3.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Andrei Kozyrev, ‘The Lagging Partnership’, Foreign Affairs 73, No. 3 (1994), 62–3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Elin Hellum, ‘Identity and Russian Foreign Policy: An Analysis of the Official Discourse, 1992–2004’, Mphil Thesis, St Antony’s College, Oxford (April 2005), p. 28.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Hanna Smith agrees: The ‘aspiration [for greatness] informs the Russian predilection for multipolarity, and this is a theme that appears in all forms of multipolarity in Russian foreign arguments from Kozyrev to Primakov, and Ivanov til Lavrov.’ See: Hannah Smith, ed., Russia and Its Foreign Policy (Saarijarvi, Finland: Kikimora Publications, 2005), p. 39 (emphasis added).

    Google Scholar 

  46. Dmitri Trenin, ‘Russia Redefines Itself and its Relations with the West’, The Washington Quarterly (1 March 2007 ), http://www.carnegie.ru/en/print/75857-print.htm.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Ivan Krastev, ‘Russia as the “Other Europe”’, Russia in Global Affairs, No. 4 (October/December 2007), http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/numbers/21/1151/html, 3–4.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Superpower… cheap’: Bendersky, ‘Russia’s Future Foreign Policy: Pragmatism in Motion’, Power and Interest News Report, PINR (4 May 2005) in JRL (4 May 2005), http://www.cdi.org/Russia/Johnson.

    Google Scholar 

  49. Vyacheslav Nikonov, ‘Russian Gaullism: Putin’s Foreign Policy Doctrine’, Russia Watch, No. 5, Harvard University (March 2001).

    Google Scholar 

  50. Robert Legvold, ‘Russia’s Unformed Foreign Policy’, Foreign Affairs (September/October 2001 ), http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20010901faessay5570/robertlegvold/russia-s-unformed-foreign-policy.

    Google Scholar 

  51. CIA World Fact Book, ‘Rank Order-GDP’, http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html; Michael S. Bernstam, Alvin Rabushka, ‘China vs. Russia: Wealth Creation vs. Poverty Reduction’, Hoover Institution (25 April 2005 ), http://www.hoover.org/research/russianecon/essays/5084951.html.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Informal spokesman’: Dmitri Trenin, ‘Russia’s Strategic Choices’, Policy Brief #50 (May 2007): 3, http://www.carnegie.ru.

    Google Scholar 

  53. On Asia as rear guard for Western-centric foreign policy, Bobo Lo, personal conversation. See: Lo, Axis of Convenience: Moscow, Beijing and the New Geopolitics ( Washington: Brookings, 2008 ).

    Google Scholar 

  54. Fyodor Lyukyanov, ‘The Transition from Bipolar to Multipolar’ (23 January 2008), Moscow Times in Russia in Global Affairs, http://www.eng.globalaffairs.ru/engsmi/1167.html.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Sergei Lavrov, ‘Global Politics Needs Openness and Democracy’, Izvestiya, in Johnson’s Russia List (JRL), #100 (1 May 2007 ), http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson.

    Google Scholar 

  56. Fyodor Lyukyanov, Vedomosti (10 September 2007), 4 in Current Digest of Post Soviet Press, Vol. 59, No. 38 (2007): 4.

    Google Scholar 

  57. Ivan Kravstev, ‘Sovereign Democracy, Russian-Style’, OpenDemocracy (16 November 2006 ), http://www.opendemocracy.net/node/4104/print.

    Google Scholar 

  58. Mark Leonard, Nicu Popescu, Executive Summary, European Council on Foreign Relations (7 November 2007 ), http://www.ecfr.eu.

    Google Scholar 

  59. Given the UK’s prominence, the Kremlin was extremely sensitive about its criticisms. The ‘Obzor’ particularly singled out Britain for unusual and angry comment; the British Ambassador was harassed; and BP was squeezed. ‘Obzor’: 37–8; Mark Leonard, Nicu Popescu, ‘A Power Audit of EU-Russia Relations’, Policy Paper, European Council on Foreign Relations (November 2007), http://www.ecfr.eu.org, 14–15.

    Google Scholar 

  60. Obzor’, p. 32; Vladimir Putin, ‘Press Statement and Answers… Following the 20th Russia-European Union Summit’, Mafra, Portugal (26 October 2007 ), www.kremlin.ru.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Mark Leonard, Nicu Popescu, ‘Russia and Europe’, European Council on Foreign Relations (7 November 2007), http://www.ecfr.eu/content/entry/commentary_russia.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Aleksei Arbatov, ‘Russia and the United States — Time to End the Strategic Deadlock’, Briefing, Vol. 10, Issue 3, Carnegie Moscow Centre (June 2008): 2.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Daniel Dombey, Demetri Sevastopulo, Neil Buckley, ‘Russians Accuse US of Military Expansion’, FT (9 February 2007 ), http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto020920071449264142&page=2.

    Google Scholar 

  64. Dmitri Litovkin, ‘Russia Explodes “Father of all Bombs”’, Izvestiya (13 September 2007) in Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press (CDPSP), Vol. 59, No. 37 (2007): 8.

    Google Scholar 

  65. Sergei Karaganov, ‘The New Era: What is to be Done?’, Rossiiskaya Gazeta in CDPSP, Vol. 59, No. 38 (17 October 2007 ).

    Google Scholar 

  66. On these points, see: Archie Brown, Seven Years that Changed the World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 248–51, 277–94

    Google Scholar 

  67. Archie Brown, The Gorbachev Factor ( Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996 ), pp. 225–30.

    Google Scholar 

  68. Vladimir Gel’man and Tomila Lankina, ‘Authoritarian Versus Democratic Diffusions: Explaining Institutional Choices in Russia’s Local Government’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 24, 1 (2008): 40–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Julie Newton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre, St Antony’s College Oxford, UK

    Julie Newton (Visiting Fellow) (Visiting Fellow)

  2. Economics Department, OECD, France

    William Tompson (Senior Economist) (Senior Economist)

Copyright information

© 2010 Julie Newton

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Newton, J. (2010). Shortcut to Great Power: Russia in Pursuit of Multipolarity. In: Newton, J., Tompson, W. (eds) Institutions, Ideas and Leadership in Russian Politics. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230282940_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation