Dmitri Trenin Research Articles

Russia's engagement with the West: transformation and integration in the twenty-first century

List of Tables and Figures About the Editors and Contributors Introduction: Russia's Reintegration into the West: The Challenges Before Russia, Alexander J. Motyl, Blair A. Ruble, and Lilia Shevtsova Part I. Transformation: Obstacles and Possibilities 1. Citizenship, Borders, and National Identity, Elizabeth Teague 2. Russian Legal Culture, Civil Society, and Chances for Westernization, Jerzy Mackow 3. Russian Culture and Integration into the West, Yuri Senokosov 4. Public Opinion and Pro-Western Interest Groups Russia, Pilar Bonet 5. Political Leadership Russia's Transformation, Lilia Shevtsova 6. Making a Good Entrance: Russia's Reengagement with the World Economy and, Unfortunately, with Europe Particular, Philip Hanson Part II. Integration: Obstacles and Possibilities 7. The European Union's Policies Toward Russia, Ania Krok-Paszkowska and Jan Zielonka 8. European Union-Russia Relations: Transformation Through Integration, Stephan Kux 9. Russia's Integration with the West and the States in Between, Oleksandr Pavliuk 10. Greater Central Asia, Russia, and the West: Challenges and Opportunities for Cooperation, Rajan Menon 11. Russia-European Union-Germany after 9/11 and Iraq, Alexander Rahr 12. Russia, the European Union, and NATO After September 11: Challenges and Limits of a New Entanglement, Sophia Clement-Noguier 13. America and Russia: Paradoxes of Partnership, Angela E. Stent 14. Russia's Security Integration with America and Europe, Dmitri Trenin Conclusion: Integrating Russia into the West: The Challenges Before the United States, Russia, and Europe, Alexander J. Motyl, Blair A. Ruble, and Lilia Shevtsova Index.

Is Putin Pursuing a Policy of Eurasianism?

But what do they want to find? Confirmation of the fact that we are not like others? Or moral compensation for material and other adversities? Or justification of hopelessness? Or an ideological cover for selfish interest?. . . Or a new Utopia [based] on some mysterious instructions allegedly bequeathed to us by our ancestors?Alexander Pumpiansky on the new Eurasianism (2003)1I think that if we have come after others, it is in order to do better than the others. . . . I have the inner conviction that we are called upon to resolve most of the problems in the social order, to accomplish most of the ideas which arose in the old societies, to make a pronouncement about those very grave questions which occupy humanity.Pyotr Chaadacv on the Eurasian movement of his day (1829)2As the two epigraphs illustrate, it is impossible to discuss the contemporary debate over Russia's place in the world as a Eurasian3 or European nation without delving into the rich history surrounding the question itself-a question framed by Tim McDaniels as the Agony of the Russian Idea (emphasis added)-which has been at the center of Russian intellectual debates for centuries.4 The underlying question is one of identity. Where does Russia belong in the pantheon of nations? What does it see itself offering the world of today and the world of tomorrow, or as Dmitri Trenin has asked: What is Russia? and Who is Russian?5Although such questions may seem indulgently ephemeral and foggy, even plainly ridiculous to readers steeped in the rational choice, economics-driven model of foreign policy dominant in the West, this question of identity is the pivot point around which today's Russian foreign policy turns. Is Russia to fully become part of the secular, material, postmodern West represented by the countries of the Euro-Atlantic world, or will it move closer to the vision of a uniquely Eurasian model that is more spiritual, more ambivalent towards the supposed benefits of modernity, and thus less integrated into the globalized trade, cultural, and political networks that define modernity?History of the Eurasian IdeaOnly the deepest of skeptics debate the real power of these ideas to affect political action. The rest understand that however cynical the process of politics the world over is, not all rhetoric is empty. This is especially true in Russia, where the streets are lined with statues of the poets and writers whose words inspired legions of revolutionaries and counterrevolutionaries. The debate over Russian identity has been at the core of Russian foreign policy for centuries. The question of Russia's identity drove Peter the Great's (1672-1725) westernizing policies as surely as it drives President Putin today. It is the incredible continuity of this debate that is perhaps the most defining element in Russian foreign policy.Trenin encapsulates the contours of this debate as twofold: spatial and politicalphilosophical. What exactly is Eurasia? Is it a place or an idea? The idea of a distinct Eurasian geography is more or less taken for granted today. Numerous political groups, academic institutions, and journals adorn themselves with some form of in their title. But like all such definitions, deciding what constitutes Eurasia and where it is located was the product of an extended and unconcluded argument. It was a constructed idea that required a complex structure of arguments to support its assertions, and only after centuries of refinement and promulgation did it come to be considered fact.The foundations for the idea of a specifically Eurasian cultural space have deep roots in Russian intellectual history. Born out of the necessity to incorporate the territory won during his war with Charles XII of Sweden, Peter the Great decided to have a new geographic outline written that would include the newly won territory, moving Russia's place on European maps of the day from the Asian continent into Europe. …

The End of Eurasia: Russia on the Border Between Geopolitics and Globalization by Dmitri Trenin (review)

The End of Eurasia: Russia on the Border Between Geopolitics and Globalization by Dmitri Trenin (review)

Russia's Restless Frontier: The Chechnya Factor in Post-Soviet Russia

The conflict in Chechnya, going through its low- and high-intensity phases, has been doggedly accompanying Russia's development. In the last decade, the Chechen war was widely covered, both in Russia and in the West. While most books look at the causes of the war, explain its zigzag course, and condemn the brutalities and crimes associated with it, this book is different. Its focus lies beyond the Caucasus battlefield. In Russia's Restless Frontier , Dmitri Trenin and Aleksei Malashenko examine the implications of the war with Chechnya for Russia's post-Soviet evolution. Considering Chechnya's impact on Russia's military, domestic politics, foreign policy, and ethnic relations, the authors contend that the Chechen factor must be addressed before Russia can continue its development.

Russia after the fall

Russia's first decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union has been simultaneously tumultuous and transformative. For most of the 1990s the Russian economy was in free fall, the legal system in absentia, and the majority of citizens engaged primarily in survival efforts. Not surprisingly, the former superpower also struggled to adapt to its greatly diminished means and status. Russia after the Fall is a collection of essays by internationally renowned experts on Russian politics, economics, society, and foreign and security policy. The volume is comprehensive in its coverage of key topics as well as reflective of contemporary debates on developments in Russia. The essays provide retrospective analyses on how Russia has fared in its reform efforts and a prospective look at the challenges ahead. This book will be of interest to scholars, students, and to a general audience seeking to better understand where Russia has been and where it is going. Contributors include Anders Aslund (Carnegie Endowment), Harley Balzer (Georgetown University), Clifford Gaddy (Brookings Institution), James Goldgeier (George Washington University), Rose Gottemoeller (Carnegie Endowment), Thomas E. Graham Jr. (Carnegie Endowment), Joel Hellman (World Bank), Stephen Holmes (New York University), Andrew C. Kuchins (Carnegie Endowment), Anatol Lieven (Carnegie Endowment), Michael McFaul (Carnegie Endowment), Martha Brill Olcott (Carnegie Endowment), Dmitri Trenin (Carnegie Moscow Center), and Judyth Twigg (Virginia Commonwealth University). Andrew C. Kuchins is the director of the Russian and Eurasian Program at the Carnegie Endowment where he specializes in Russian policy and security issues. He is coeditor of Russia and Japan: An Unresolved Dilemma between Distant Neighbors (Berkeley Public Policy Press, 1993)

Rapprochement or Rivalry? Russia-China Relations in a Changing Asia. Edited by Sherman W. Garnett. Washington D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2000. x, 439 pp. $24.95 (paper).

The emerging relationship between China and Russia is perhaps the most important force redefining international relations in post-Cold War Asia. In the past five years, Russia and China have built a strategic partnership aimed at the 21st century, a development that deeply worries some Western observers and puzzles others. In this first comprehensive study of Russian-Chinese relations, Sherman Garnett and a team of 15 U.S., Russian, and Chinese scholars analyze the most important issues posed by the relationship, including cross-border trade, the impact of Russia's center-periphery politics, migration, arms sales, and (mis)perceptions of one another. The book assesses what will be one of the most important relationships, economically and strategically, in the dynamic region stretching from Central Asia to the Far East. It also weighs the prospects for real cooperation between Russia, a severely weakened power, and China, a power on the rise. Contributing authors include Stephen Blank, Sherman Garnett, Vilya Gel'bras, Harry Gelman, Li Jingjie, Michael McFaul, Lu Nanquan, Martha Olcott, Gilbert Rozman, Judith Thornton, Dmitri Trenin, Tamara Troyakova, Galina Vitkovskaya, Alexei Voskressenski, Elizabeth Wishnick, and Zhanna Zayonchkovskaya.