Russia’s Pivot to the East: Achievements, Problems, and Prospects.

Russia’s Pivot to the East:
Achievements, Problems, and Prospects.


Torkunov A.V.,

Dr. Sci. (Pol. Sci.), full member of RAS, Rector, Moscow State University of International Relations, MFA of Russia, tork@mgimo.ru


elibrary_id: 498974 |

Streltsov D.V.,

Dr. Sci. (Hist.), Head of Department, Professor, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University), MFA of Russia, d.streltsov@inno.mgimo.ru


elibrary_id: 444059 |

Koldunova E.V.,

Cand. Sci. (Pol. Sci.), Associate Professor, Asian and African Studies Department, MGIMO University, e.koldunova@inno.mgimo.ru


elibrary_id: 519047 |


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2020.05.02

For citation:

Torkunov A.V., Streltsov D.V., Koldunova E.V. Russia’s Pivot to the East: Achievements, Problems, and Prospects.. – Polis. Political Studies. 2020. No. 5. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2020.05.02


The study was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation research project № 19-18-00142 “Multifactor analysis of the ‘Turn to the East’ in Russian foreign policy (achievements, problems, and prospects)”.


Abstract

 

The period that has passed since the official proclamation of the Russian ‘pivot to the East’ allows us to draw preliminary conclusions about its nature, achievements, problems, and prospects. At present, the qualitative differences between this current course and earlier stages of Russian foreign policy looking towards an eastern direction at can also be noted. In particular, it is worth noting the more structurally complex profile of the ‘pivot to the East’, due to the clear identification of several components at the junction of domestic and foreign policy, as well as the regional and global dimensions of the Russian foreign policy strategy. The first component regards political and economic interaction internationally, including the aggregated motives for searching for additional sources of economic growth and technology, and the search for alternative energy markets and political and economic alternatives which arose after 2014, under expanding sanctions by the US and the EU; Russia’s key partners in Asia (China, India, the Republic of Korea, Southeast Asian states) refused to join anti-Russian sanctions, while Japan paid them only lip service. The second component regards internal political and institutional development, which is connected with the intention to reassess Russian Siberia and the Far East development against the background of external milieu’s radical transformation and growing economic and demographic asymmetry between the European and Asian parts of Russia. The third component includes further development of the Greater Eurasia conceptual framework, which could have helped Russia to retain and ideally to raise its integrationist potential as one of the leading states in the international system, via institutionalized political and economic partnerships primarily with Asian states. While the first component’s development is evident and can be subject to qualitative and quantitative assessment presented in this paper, the contours of the second and third are still in the making.

 

Keywords
Russia, pivot to the East, China, Japan, ASEAN, Asia, foreign policy, Greater Eurasia .


References

Lubina M. 2016. Between Reality and Dreams: Russia’s Pivot to Asia. – Building the Diverse Community. Beyond Regionalism in East Asia. Ed. by D. Mierzejewski, G. Bywalec. Contemporary Asian Studies Series. Łodź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łodzkiego. P. 159-176.

Rinna A.V. 2019. Moscow’s “Turn to the East” and Challenges to Russia–South Korea Economic Collaboration Under the New Northern Policy. – Journal of Eurasian Studies. Vol. 10. No. 2. P. 159–168. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1879366519851984

Russia and East Asia: Informal and Gradual Integration. 2014. Ed. by T. Akaha, A. Vassilieva. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 320 p.

Sumsky V., Koldunova E., Kanaev E. 2012. Russia’s Interest in the Context of Asia-Pacific Regional Security and Development. Moscow: RIAC. 32 p.

Voskressenski A.D. 2020. China’s Relations with Russia. – China and the World. Ed. by D. Shambaugh. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P. 233-250.

Wishnick E. 2020. Sino-Russian Consolidation at a Time of Geopolitical Rivalry. – Monitor. 01.03. https://www.prcleader.org/elizabeth-wishnick (accessed 31.05.2020).

 

“Bol’shaya Vostochnaya Aziya”: mirovaya politika i regional’nye transformatsii [Greater Eastern Asia: World Politics and Regional Transformations]. 2010. Ed. by A.D. Voskressenski. Moscow: MGIMO University. (In Russ.)

Il’in E.Yu. 2015. The Concept of Greater Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok: Problems and Perspectives. – MGIMO Review of International Relations. No. 2. P. 84-92. (In Russ.)

Primakov E.M. 2011. Mysli vslukh [Thinking out Loud]. Moscow: Rossiiskaya gazeta. 223 p. (In Russ.)

Savchenko A.E., Zuenko I.Yu. 2020. The Driving Forces of Russia’s Pivot to East. – Comparative Politics Russia. No. 11. P. 111-125. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24411/2221-3279-2020-10009

Shpanger Kh.-I. 2016. Povorot Russia’s Pivot Eastward, China’s Pivot Westward: Cooperation and Conflict along the New Silk Road. – Russia in Global Affairs. 14.06. (In Russ.) https://globalaffairs.ru/articles/povorotrossii-na-vostok-povorot-kitaya-na-zapad-vzaimodejstvie-i-konflikty-na-shyolkovom-puti/ (accessed 31.05.2020).

Torkunov A.V. 2014. On the New Russian Eastern Policy. – MGIMO Review of International Relations. No. 1. P. 9-13. (In Russ.) 

Content No. 5, 2020

See also:


Lukin A.V.,
Russia and China in Greater Eurasia. – Polis. Political Studies. 2020. No5

Round Table of the «Polis» Journal, Streltsov D.V., Chugrov S.V., Karelova L.B., Oznobishchev S.K.,
Russia and Japan. Part II. View from Russia. – Polis. Political Studies. 2014. No1

Rutland P.,
Russia and China: Saga of Two Transitions to Market Economy. – Polis. Political Studies. 2009. No3

Round Table of the «Polis» Journal, Inoguchi T., Harada Yu., Hakamada Sh., Kawato A., Shimotomai N.,
Russia and Japan. Part I. View from Japan. – Polis. Political Studies. 2013. No6

Melville A.Yu., Ilyin M.V., Makarenko B.I., Meleshkina Ye.Yu., Mironyuk M.G., Sergeev V.M., Timofeev I.N.,
Russian Foreign Policy as Seen by the Expert Community. – Polis. Political Studies. 2009. No4

 

   

Introducing an article



Polis. Political Studies
1 2012


Karelova L.B., Chugrov S.V.
Tu Weiming and the «New Confucianism»

 The article text
 

Archive

   2024      2023      2022      2021   
   2020      2019      2018      2017      2016   
   2015      2014      2013      2012      2011   
   2010      2009      2008      2007      2006   
   2005      2004      2003      2002      2001   
   2000      1999      1998      1997      1996   
   1995      1994      1993      1992      1991