ABSTRACT
The Russians, for seventy years one of the magnetic poles in a global contest, must rediscover their national identity with a diminished role. A globalized economy is an economy where medium- and high-technology products, from civilian airplanes to supercomputers, can be produced only with global financing, marketing, and technological and human resources. The global economy is truly global; even regional blocs are not large enough to support on their own, say, developing a new civilian airplane. Regional blocs, while conventionally viewed as “fortresses,” show promise of being institutional “building-blocks” of a global order. Thus even China, with its expanding global linkages, has been forced to address its poor international image in the area of human rights. China represents the paradox of power that has taken the isolationist path but for nationalist reasons finds it has to integrate into the international economy.
