Abstract
The world faces a strategic challenge of reforming the governance basis of international politics, which is displaying the symptoms of significant destabilization, searching for new ways of crafting nuanced equilibria of interests and capacity at the global, regional, and domestic levels. Developing intricate and adaptable formulas to manage individual facets of international engagement is becoming increasingly complex and volatile. The effects of instability vary in different countries, but the global operational and political space is increasingly determined by problems within countries, where external stress becomes a result of domestic discrepancies, aggravating them and producing a set of contradictions. In the context of profound global transformations, what explains Russia’s status and positioning in the world? This article argues that as states are struggling to adapt to new realities and acquire capabilities in an effort to survive or gain more influence, Russia’s standing will depend on how adequately it can respond to the challenges and how effectively it will be able to use its advantages. Russia should not simply take in the results of global turbulence, but rather employ and actively develop areas of leadership and collaboration, by tying foreign policy firmly to the priorities of domestic development. While Russia conducts an active foreign policy consistently defending its interests and combining efforts to find optimal solutions to many contemporary problems, it has not yet arrived at a coherent security strategy or produced a vision of a future world order. The success may depend on understanding of the current trends, recognizing opportunities and demonstrating leadership, willingness to share in responsibility for results, as well as conducting essential domestic reforms.
Highlights
The World in MotionAt the turn of the 21st century few thought that an interdependent liberal world order could be significantly challenged
The liberal order started to exhibit “its own signs of deterioration”[1], with the international architecture created by the West becoming unstable and uneven [Monaghan 2016], with liberalism yielding to balance-ofpower politics [Mearsheimer 2018], and nationalism and protectionism reasserting themselves[2]
Russia in Global Affairs, 18 (1), 85—91
Summary
At the turn of the 21st century few thought that an interdependent liberal world order could be significantly challenged. The concepts of international community and cooperation to a large degree remain mostly aspirational and highly dependent on domestic political will and capacity, especially in the times of global crises[3]. The world faces a strategic challenge of reforming the governance basis of international politics, which is displaying the symptoms of significant destabilization, searching for new ways of crafting nuanced equilibria of interests and capacity at the global and domestic levels. The nature of instability is increasingly determined by problems within countries, by the levels of rivalry between them, and by the tensions in global and regional international political and economic orders. The effects of instability vary in different countries, but the global operational and political space is increasingly determined by problems within countries, where external stress reflects domestic discrepancies, aggravating them and producing a set of contradictions. The success may depend on understanding of the current trends, recognizing opportunities and demonstrating leadership, willingness to share in responsibility for results, as well as effecting necessary domestic reforms
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