Evaluation of tte International System In Russian Official Discourse and Academic Analysis

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Evaluation of tte International System In Russian Official Discourse and Academic Analysis
Authors: Igor A. Istomin
Source: Vestnik MGIMO-Universiteta, Vol 50, Iss 5, Pp 20-33 (2016)
Publisher Information: MGIMO University Press, 2016.
Publication Year: 2016
Collection: LCC:International relations
Subject Terms: международная система, внешнеполитический дискурс, эпистемические сообщества, полицентричный мир, однополярность, исследовательское сообщество, политический дискурс, внешняя политика, Россия, США, центры силы, ведущие мировые державы, соотношение сил, international system, foreign policy discourse, epistemic communities, polycentric world, unipolarity, academic community, political discourse, foreign policy, Russia, USA, centers of power, great powers, balance of power, International relations, JZ2-6530
Description: The article draws a comparison between Russian official and expert foreign policy discourses, focusing on representations of the power balance and relations between major states as the defining features of international system. The author attempts to identify actual and potential contribution of academics in the Russian foreign policy thinking. Conceptual documents and programme statements of national leadership elevate the notion of 'polycentric world' as a value in itself, which guides national actions on international arena. Although, until the late 2000s its rise was perceived as a welcome, but remote prospect, since the U.S. failures in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as global financial crisis expectations regarding it construction increased. They are accompanied, however, by a more critical appraisal of the concept. The mainstream Russian expert community shares normative appreciation of the polycentric global system as an intrinsic good. It also nourishes expectations of its emergence with almost inevitable certainty. Most of the time, it does not take into account concerns incorporated in the Western IR theories, regarding destabilizing effect of competition between multiple centers of power. The article demonstrates that both Russian political leadership and expert community perceive polycentric system as an international 'great power concert', which is just one and relatively rare form of it. It requires not only virtual parity in capabilities of several players, but also the lack of serious disputes among them. Meanwhile, in the Russia academic community there is a place for a critical tradition, which associates current decentralization of the international system with its chaotization and weakening governance. In recent years this approach gains additional prominence. However, the Russian debates on global order lacks more elaborated discussion regarding sources of power in international system as well as explanation of the binding ties, which would facilitate creation of concert rather than competition among emerging powers.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
Russian
ISSN: 2071-8160
Relation: http://www.vestnik.mgimo.ru/razdely/issledovatelskie-stati/refleksiya-mezhdunarodnoy-sistemy-v-oficialnom-diskurse-i-nauchnom; https://doaj.org/toc/2071-8160
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/d8cbaaf7f14545ffa8ab25f24dc63fc8
Accession Number: edsdoj.8cbaaf7f14545ffa8ab25f24dc63fc8
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
Description
Abstract:The article draws a comparison between Russian official and expert foreign policy discourses, focusing on representations of the power balance and relations between major states as the defining features of international system. The author attempts to identify actual and potential contribution of academics in the Russian foreign policy thinking. Conceptual documents and programme statements of national leadership elevate the notion of 'polycentric world' as a value in itself, which guides national actions on international arena. Although, until the late 2000s its rise was perceived as a welcome, but remote prospect, since the U.S. failures in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as global financial crisis expectations regarding it construction increased. They are accompanied, however, by a more critical appraisal of the concept. The mainstream Russian expert community shares normative appreciation of the polycentric global system as an intrinsic good. It also nourishes expectations of its emergence with almost inevitable certainty. Most of the time, it does not take into account concerns incorporated in the Western IR theories, regarding destabilizing effect of competition between multiple centers of power. The article demonstrates that both Russian political leadership and expert community perceive polycentric system as an international 'great power concert', which is just one and relatively rare form of it. It requires not only virtual parity in capabilities of several players, but also the lack of serious disputes among them. Meanwhile, in the Russia academic community there is a place for a critical tradition, which associates current decentralization of the international system with its chaotization and weakening governance. In recent years this approach gains additional prominence. However, the Russian debates on global order lacks more elaborated discussion regarding sources of power in international system as well as explanation of the binding ties, which would facilitate creation of concert rather than competition among emerging powers.
ISSN:20718160