The term of Russia comes from Rossia, a Greek word used in the Byzantine Empire to refer to the Kievan Russia, i.e. the first germ of the Russian state founded in the ninth century by the first settlers eastern Slavs. So far away and unknown to many, Russia is an energy and geostrategic superpower and very importantly in the field of international relations. It is a country that has a great influence in making vital decisions to the interest of the international community and plays an important role in the political, economic and military agenda of the major global forums.
With a population of almost one hundred forty-three million people and ethnically pluridiversa, Russia spans the entire northern Asia and a large part of Europe. It also contains the majority of mineral resources and untapped energy yet around the world, it has a nuclear arsenal at parity with U.S. too. Politically and administratively, the country is in a semi-presidential federal democratic republic that includes a total of eighty-three federal political units or subjects with various legal and political regimes.
In the context of the international community, Russia is part of the UN Security Council, so it plays an important role in maintaining peace and security. He is a member of the Quartet and the six-party talks with North Korea, promoting solutions to international conflicts and resolving nuclear proliferation issues. Moreover, Russia is a member of G-8, Council of Europe, OSCE and APEC, performing a key role in the economic, financial and global trade issues. The country exerts even leadership in various regional bodies, as in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). Finally, it is a major energy supplier in the EU.
Russia’s influence in global affairs is obvious. However, since the end of bipolarity, it has not participated in the construction of later political and economic international order, true to the liberal ideology of Western countries, in love with its paradigm, which Russia has no membership interest, at least today. At first, Russia accepted it passively. However, it has expressed its opposition in recent years cataloging Western foreign policy as “double standards” by denying certain rights to certain countries, while others do grant, invalidating effectiveness and credibility of the institutions and rules that it embody. Therefore, Russia does not intend to follow the path of the West and has no interest in joining the EU, although it begins to consider that the ideas have their value in for policy. After years without a clear ideology or sufficiently representative, the country has to focus on defining what innovative model of state aims to develop, as the intellectual and political elite close to the Kremlin know what they do not want, but disagree on the role to be exercised by the state, market and society in the near future.
In the last two decades, an outstanding feature of Russian foreign action has been its stated opposition to any attempt to create one unipolar system of international relations led by the liberal ideology of the West, and specifically by the U.S. A more stable and secure world for Russia, from the end of its hegemonic parity with the current military super power during the Cold War, is a structure of international relations in which the different poles of power have sufficient resources to control truly effective among them: the multipolar system. The multipolar world order born in the nineties has shown so far to be durable for its stability. This stability steams from the inability of any of the super power countries to dominate others. Although in practice it does not entail a perfect balance of international relations, is preferable to unipolarity, a system which only a power holds supremacy and dominates the others. This system inevitably leads to irresponsible behavior of powerful pole and leads the smaller and dominated centers to fight for stronger, something that increases the imbalance and instability. This explains the opposite of Russia to NATO enlargement and the establishment in Europe of U.S. missile defense systems.
Russia wary of a government fully universal because the competitive nature of international relations and the defense for every state of its legitimate interests. Also it deeply suspicious of the current European political order and institutions like the OSCE that embody it. Russia feels more convenient a world centered on the Westphalian state and the possibility of establishing a foundation that balance international relations and ensure peace and security. The XXI century world faces new threats that have a global character and calls therefore also a global response, where the search for peace and security order become the first aim in any international strategy. In this context, Russia’s cooperation is essential. During the NATO summit in Lisbon in November 2010, one of the most important issues that were discussed was the possible inclusion of Russia in the Transatlantic Alliance. The issues raised by Russia’s foreign policy agenda in security are of interest to all: Iran’s nuclear ambitions, control and reduction of strategic weapons, nuclear non proliferations, stabilizing Afghanistan, counterterrorism and energy security. Therefore, the answer has to be jointly between Russia and the West. Ignoring Russia in resolving such conflicts would be counterproductive and dangerous, since Russia has proven to be an effective power in contributing to international security suppressing uprisings in the post-Soviet Chechen terrorism, which has been also prevented from being internationalized and global threat as Al-Qaeda, or helping other countries in Eastern Europe to create its own identity.
Finally, during the financial crisis that has jeopardized the doctrine defending extreme unlimited financial liberalism in the West, after the debacle of national economies, Russia thinks reorganize its regional influence space. Thus, as U.S. and UE are losing global influence, Russia wants to build on and strengthen new economic ties with its closest satellites, such as Belarus. The abandonment of negotiations by Russia to enter into the WTO is the reflection of these intentions and their distrust of the current economic and financial order.
Bibliography
Krastev. I, Leonard. M, Wilson. A, ¿Qué piensa Rusia?, CIDOB/European Council on foreign relations.
A. Kupchan. CH, NATO’s Final Frontier: Why Russia should join the Atlantic Alliance, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2010.
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