Russia’ s revival Jeffrey Manko ff

The past decade has witnessed a revival in Russia’s international role that few could have expected in the chaotic 1990s. The Russia that has emerged in the early twenty-first century is a sometimes uncomfortable amalgam of Soviet nostalgia, nationalist insecurity and the aspiration to be accepted as a fully fledged member of a new Great Powers club (albeit one where economic rather than military power is the most important foundation of a state’s position in the world). Its recent presidents – Vladimir Putin (2000-2008) and Dmitry Medvedev (2008-) have emphasized the need for their country to return to its historic role as a major power, with its priorities dictated solely by its own sense of national interest. Today’s newly confident Russia is keen to portray itself as an independent pole in a

multi-polar international system, manoeuvring between the West and other centres of power to maximize its flexibility and influence, while bucking the assumption that the natural progression of its post-Communist development would lead it to join the camp of Western liberal democracies (Izvestiya 2007b). In freeing itself from Western tutelage, Russia has increasingly clashed with both the United States and Europe, while often seeking better relations with China, Iran and other major non-Western powers. This chapter starts with an overview of Russia’s stark political and economic decline

after the end of the Cold War. It continues with an analysis of the restoration of political stability in the following decade under Vladimir Putin, which has led to an increasingly assertive, self-confident Russian foreign policy, and goes on to describe the potentially profound consequences of Russia’s revival for the rest of the world. It argues that the main challenges for the West in dealing with Moscow lie in convincing it that binding itself to the existing liberal international order would be in Russia’s interest. It concludes with an outlook on Medvedev’s presidency, and finally questions the strength of the foundations of Russia’s revival.