[Bilimsel Haber] TOC: Russia in Global Affairs 2006 No. 001

Tue Mar 28 09:41:43 EEST 2006

Kimden: Serguei Alex. Oushakine <sao15 at columbia.edu>

http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/

Russia in Global Affairs  * 2006-03-31RGE-No. 001

CONTENTS

After the Empire

Fyodor Lukyanov
	5

EMPIRE'S DESTINY

The Fruits of a Hundred Years Revolution
	Sergei Dubinin
	8
Chaos, as a general rule, occurs in the most authoritarian
overcentralized states, in which the breakdown of central authority
causes the collapse of local authority. This pattern is observed in the
early 20th century both in the Russian and Chinese Empires; the
juggernaut of state administration weakens and literally falls to pieces.

Russia: A Special Imperial Way?
	Alexei Arbatov 22
It is a question of paramount historical and contemporary political
importance whether a military empire is a normal form of existence for
Russia. Or, on the contrary, has such a model finally become obsolete
after twice bringing this great country to collapse?

Portugal: In Pursuit of Bygone Caravels
	Antonio Ramalho Eanes 40
The Portuguese Empire emerged as a means of asserting national will and
occupied an important place in the minds of the people. Longing for the
gardens of a mythological Eden suppressed their ability to tackle
problems bravely and wittingly, or to make use of new opportunities.

Harvesting New Peoples
	Sergei Gradirovsky 50
Throughout Russia's history, its primary goal and geopolitical strategy
has been centered around the idea of "gathering together lands." The
historic colonizing potential of the Russian nation had a solid backing
in the form of its birthrates. Now Russia should focus on the change of
its geopolitical strategy to "gathering together peoples."

Xenophobia: Past and Present
	Lev Gudkov 58
The disintegration of the Soviet Union undermined the traditional
self-identity and introduced primitive (archaic) perceptions and
mechanisms of ethnic solidarity based on separation and alienation.

SOVIET LEGACY

Unrecognized Geopolitics
	Sergei Markedonov 68
The problem of unrecognized states is often reduced to the formal, legal
format. But unrecognized states as a phenomenon cannot be studied and
understood exclusively in terms of formal jurisprudence. The very
creation of those entities are facts of emotional, symbolic, social and
cultural nature.

  The North Caucasus and the Future of Russian Statehood
	Vladimir Degoyev, Rustam Ibragimov 80
The alienation of the North Caucasus and the subsequent reshaping of
borders would mean that a country named Russia in its present form would
cease to exist. This tough prognosis of the foreseeable future will
occur as inevitably as a cyclical natural phenomenon if we allow the
current tendencies to develop according to their natural logic.

Central Asia in an Era of Change
	Stanislav Chernyavsky 94
Central Asia has been recently described, despite its myriad problems,
as a region of political stability. Experts believed that the Central
Asian governments would ensure a relatively calm development inside
their countries for at least five to seven years. However, given the
developments in the post-Soviet space in the last two years, the
analysts have been forced to amend their forecasts.

Russia and Belarus: Between Wishing and Reality
	Leonid Zaiko 108
Officials from Russia and Belarus make flamboyant claims about the
alleged success of ongoing "close" integration between the two
countries. However, the year 2005 vividly demonstrated that, in reality
the economies have been diverging, thus causing Belarus to noticeably
depart from Russia.

RUSSIA ON THE WORLD SCENE

Russian Hydrocarbons and World Markets
	Alexander Arhatov, Maria Belova, Vladimir Feygin 118

Russia's standing in the world is in great part contingent on its rich
mineral resources. Successful participation in the international
division of labor presupposes effective use of this advantage, although
it should not be confined to this.

Russia and the U.S. in Need of Trust and Cooperation
	Yevgeny Primakov132

Naturally, the Russian Federation cannot be compared with the Soviet
Union, which played a much more significant role in world politics. But
there are shortsighted politicians in the U.S. who have excluded Russia
from the list of great powers and underestimate the dynamics of its
development.

The Specter of Capital Punishment in Russia
	Mikhail Margelov 140

There seem to be no good reasons for maintaining the death penalty.
After all, a good life is not born of fear and no conscientious scholar
would claim that a reduction in crime is directly related to the
executor's activity.

WORLD ORDER

Iran Seeking Superpower Status
	Vladimir Sazhin 150

Persistence of the followers of Imam Khomeini transforms Iran gradually
into a Shiite Persian empire. Paradoxically, the Islamic
revolutionaries, who overthrew the Shah and abrogated all the
institutions of monarchy, are acting out the Shah's dream of making Iran
a regional superpower, the center of a great civilization, which
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi wrote about.

  Two Faces of Globalization: Europeanization Ks Americanization
	Vladislav Inozemtsev 163

We all are entering a new era in which the Europeans may peacefully live
in their united Europe, and the Americans may build their beloved
America according to their own projects. But this will be possible only
if America and Europe let the rest of the world follow the path of
genuine globalization, that is, let each nation and people follow its
own course.

Reconstruction, Development and Sustainable Peace
	Mica Panic 176

There was great hope during the brief euphoria in 1989/90 that the end
of the Cold War would herald the beginning of a new era of widely
enjoyed improvements in economic welfare, prosperity and peace achieved
through greater harmony of interests and cooperation within and between
countries. Regrettably, though not surprisingly, it is the skeptics who
have turned out to be right.

PERSONAGE

Michael Walzer: "Any Ruler Can Be Brought to the Law"
	194

The trial of Hussein who claimed to be a ruler, who could do essentially
anything and whose rule was arbitrary, was to bring him to the law,
before the court, but to respect all of the civilized procedural rales.

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