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TEXT 4 The Surprising Allure of Russian Soft Power
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TEXT 4 The Surprising Allure of Russian Soft Power
The six Russian national security documents issued since Putin first became president in 2000 display a remarkable conceptual consistency.
They argue that a polycentric world is emerging and shifting the balance of power from the West to the Asia-Pacific region. The West is attempting to prevent this, according to Russia, and this will mean greater competition over values and less cooperation in combating global threats like migration, pandemics, global warming and resource scarcity. Unless the West alters course from confrontation to cooperation, the result will be chaos in the international system, which would be very bad for Russia.
To provide greater global stability, Russia intends to pursue “an open, rational, and pragmatic foreign policy, eliminating the need for expensive confrontation in, among other things, a new arms race. ” Russia’s objective is to “gain as many equal partners as it can, in as many regions of the globe. ”
Finally, Russia sees “ returning to one’s roots, ” as a global trend, especially in the Middle East and North Africa. If other civilizations respond to this by trying to impose their own values, a clash of civilizations is all but inevitable. Partnership among civilizations, rather than conflict, is much to be desired, but it would require a common framework of values. Fortunately, says Russia, such a framework can be found in the world’s major religions.
A careful reading of these documents, the most authoritative statements of Russia’s worldview publicly available, challenges several common Western assumptions.
The first is that Russia rejects the post-Cold War international order. This is not correct. Russia fears global chaos, and believes that efforts to preserve the global hegemony of the West will exacerbate tensions and lead to a breakdown of the international order. Russia places a high value on the international order because, to the extent that it is rooted in the supremacy of international law and under the guidance of UN Security Council, it mitigates chaos.
TEXT 5. WHY RUSSIA MATTERS
First, Russia under Putin, and perhaps even after he departs from the scene, does not accept American primacy, either in its neighborhood or globally. American policy toward Russia for the past three decades has failed to reconcile Russia to the U. S. vision of its global leadership, which presumes a right and a responsibility to create and maintain everywhere in the world an international order predicated upon U. S. values and advancing U. S. interests.
Second, Russia’s leadership does not subscribe to the view that it should base its own domestic order on the liberal values and norms that have underpinned American policy toward Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union; instead of looking to the West for a model, the Kremlin is charting its own course.
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Third, the distribution of global power has shifted from a unipolar world centered around the United States to a more diffuse configuration of power —a more complex and contested geopolitical landscape featuring efforts by China, Russia, and regional powers like Iran or Turkey to push back on American primacy in their surrounding regions. In such a world, continued U. S. unilateralism has become increasingly untenable.
The United States is facing the task of adapting to both changing geopolitical circumstances and U. S. domestic constraints, since segments of the American public appear highly skeptical of U. S. military interventionism, especially in the Middle East, and tired of bearing much of the burden for solving global problems. Part of this process of adaptation will inevitably involve changing the paradigm that has guided U. S. policy toward Russia for the past three decades. The strategy of expanding U. S. dominance in regions that Russia defines as vital to its security is increasingly unrealistic, because the United States does not have the compelling interests or the resources necessary to roll back Russian influence in many of the countries in Russia’s neighborhood.
TEXTS FOR ADVANCED LEVEL STUDENTS
Exercise 22. Translate the texts in writing, learn the words and expressions given in bold type. Pay particular attention to possible variants of translating the parts given in italics. Compare your variant with those of your classmates and make an informed decision about the best.
TEXT 1. THE UNIVERSAL RUSSIAN SOUL
Russia is turning inward. As the fabric of purpose and identity seems to fray among Western nations, the Russian people have set out to consolidate their culture and revive the national spirit. The glory of the Motherland is something to behold—her literature, art, music, and science are among the treasures of the earth. But this introspection has a cost.
In the name of “sobornost”—social and spiritual unity—Russia seeks to limit foreign influence on political and cultural life. New laws curtail NGOs that accept foreign funding. Speech that offends religious sensibilities can result in jail time. State-owned media cast suspicions at Western governments. Outside churches are no longer welcome. Beleaguered by economic sanctions, Russians fear being surrounded by a secular Euro-Atlantic sphere.
Russia has been engaged in finding herself ever since Peter the Great began to modernize in the eighteenth century. Vacillating between east and west, she wonders whether to orient toward Europe or Asia, or be content in the middle. The debate heated up in the nineteenth century, pitting home-loving Slavophiles against cosmopolitan Westernizers. From this tension, the country’s best thinkers emerged with a moral vision: Russia’s greatness lies in her simple goodness and spiritual capacity to love all humankind.
Russia has been engaged in finding herself ever since Peter the Great began to modernize in the eighteenth century. Vacillating between east and west, she wonders whether to orient toward Europe or Asia, or be content in the middle. The debate heated up in the nineteenth century, pitting home-loving Slavophiles against cosmopolitan Westernizers. From this tension, the country’s best thinkers emerged with a moral vision: Russia’s greatness lies in her simple goodness and spiritual capacity to love all humankind.
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These visionaries wrestled with the “ accursed questions ” of human existence—Why do we suffer? How do we find beauty? What is the cost of freedom? Where is our redemption? —and came out on the side of harmony and wholeness. We gaze at the universe through the Russian navel.
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