The Perils of Democratism

The Perils of Democratism


Sakwa R.,

University of Kent, Canterbury, Great Britain, R.Sakwa@kent.ac.uk


elibrary_id: 683723 | ORCID: 0000-0001-6678-8820 |

Article received: 2022.12.07. Accepted: 2023.01.09


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2023.02.07
EDN: FXBYGN


For citation:

Sakwa R. The Perils of Democratism. – Polis. Political Studies. 2023. No. 2. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2023.02.07. EDN: FXBYGN



Abstract

The article examines an aspect of the meta-theoretical context of the renewed confrontation between the political West and Russia. A distinction is drawn between democratism, the purposive instrumentalization of democracy agendas in great power conflict, and democracy as a responsive, reflexive and participatory mechanism of popular control over government. In the post-Cold War era this gave rise to inter-democracy, the combination of NATO and the European Union as the basis for the continued predominance of Atlanticism in the political West. This served to exclude alternative security arrangements in post-Cold War Europe, notably pan-continental variants. At the same time, the political West, a constellation of power that was created during and shaped by the Cold War, advanced transdemocracy, the view that democracy was the foundation for the creation of a genuine security community. Drawing on democratic peace theory, this approach substituted democratic internationalism for the sovereign internationalism at the heart of the UN-based Charter international system established in 1945. This gave rise to a distinctive style of international politics, described as democratism in this paper. Rather than overcoming conflict, democratism serves to sharpen antagonisms and thus helped to regenerate Cold War practices and undermined the credibility of liberal internationalism itself. The blowback effects, however, should be distinguished from the continuing struggle for democracy and a style of international politics that remains true to Charter principles.

Keywords
democratism, democracy, inter-democracy, transdemocracy, democratic peace, political West, Charter international system, international politics.


References

Ambrosio, T. (2015). Democratic Black Knights. Comparative Democratization, 13(1), 2, 12-14. https://connect.apsanet.org/s35/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/10/2015_13_1.pdf

Boix, Ch. (2011). Democracy, development, and the International System. American Political Science Review, 105(4), 809-828. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055411000402

Carr, E.H. (2001). The twenty years’ crisis, 1919-1939: an introduction to the study of international relations. London: Palgrave.

Clark, C. (2013). The sleepwalkers: how europe went to war in 1914. London: Penguin.

Cooper, R. (1996). The postmodern state and the world order. London: Demos.

Cooper, R. (2003). The breaking of nations: order and chaos in the twenty-first century. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.

Diesen, G. (2015). EU and NATO relations with Russia: after the collapse of the Soviet Union. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315580609

Dower, Cf.J.W. (2000). Embracing defeat: Japan in the wake of World War II. New York: Norton.

Doyle, M.W. (1997). Ways of war and peace: realism, liberalism and socialism. New York: Norton.

Doyle, M.W. (2012). Liberal peace: selected essays. London: Routledge.

Eisenstadt, S.N. (2000). Multiple modernities. Daedalus, 129(1), 1-29.

Flockhart, T. (2016). The coming multi-order world. Contemporary Security Policy, 37(1), 3-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2016.1150053

Gaddis, J.L. (1998). We now know: rethinking Cold War history. New York: Oxford University Press.

Gaddis, J.L. (2007). The Cold War. London: Penguin.

Gray, J. (2008). Black mass: apocalyptic religion and the death of utopia. London: Penguin.

Headley, J. (2015). Challenging the EU’s claim to moral authority: Russian talk of “double standards”. Asia Europe Journal, 13(3), 297-307. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-015-0417-y

Hill, W.H. (2018). No Place for Russia: European security institutions since 1989. New York: Columbia University Press.

Hosking, G. (2014). Trust: a history. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Huntington, S.P. (1993). The clash of civilizations? Foreign Affairs, 72(3), 23-49.

Huntington, S.P. (1996). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Itzkowitz Shifrinson, J.R. (2016). Deal or no deal? The end of the Cold War and the U.S. offer to limit NATO expansion. International Security, 40(4), 7-44. https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00236  

Jowitt, K. (1992). New world disorder: the leninist extinction. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Kant, I. (1991). Perpetual peace: a philosophical sketch’ In H. Reiss (Ed.), Kant: Political Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kazantsev, A., Lebedev, S., & Medvedeva, S. (2021). Russia’s policies in the post-soviet space: between constructive relations and fighting the new Cold War. Russian Politics, 6(4), 503-530.

Kissinger, H. (2014). World order: reflections on the character of nations and the course of history. London: Allen Lane.

Klinke, I. (2012). Postmodern geopolitics? The European Union eyes Russia. Europe-Asia Studies, 64(5), 929-947. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2012.676237

Krickovic, A., & Chang, Z. (2020). Fears of falling short versus anxieties of decline: explaining Russia and China’s approach to status-seeking. The Chinese Journal of International Politics, 13(2), 219-251. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjip/poaa006

Krickovic, A., & Pellicciari, I. (2021). From “Greater Europe” to “Greater Eurasia”: status concerns and the evolution of Russia’s approach to alignment and regional integration. Journal of Eurasian Studies, 12(1), 86-99. https://doi.org/10.1177/1879366521998808

Krickovic, A., & Weber, Y. (2018). What can Russia teach us about change? Status-seeking as a catalyst for transformation in international politics. International Studies Review, 20(2), 292-300. https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viy024

Mearsheimer, J.J. (2014). The tragedy of great power politics. New York: Norton.

Moyn, S. (2012). The last utopia: human rights in history. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.

Prozorov, S. (2016). Understanding conflict between Russia and the EU: the limits of integration. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Recchia, S., & Urbinati, N. (2009). Introduction: Giuseppe Mazzini’s international political thought. In Recchia, S. & Urbinati, N. (Ed.), A Cosmopolitanism of Nations: Giuseppe Mazzini’s Writings on Democracy, Nation Building, and International Relations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Romanova, T. (2016). Sanctions and the future of EU-Russian economic relations. Europe-Asia Studies, 68(4), 774-796. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2016.1159664

Rosato, S. (2003). The flawed logic of democratic peace theory. American Political Science Review, 97(4), 585-602. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055403000893

Sakwa, R. (2012). Modernisation, neo-modernisation and comparative democratisation in Russia. East European Politics, 28(1), 43-57.

Sakwa, R. (2013). The cold peace: Russo-Western relations as a mimetic Cold War. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 26(1), 203-224. https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2012.710584

Sakwa, R. (2015). The new Atlanticism. Russia in Global Affairs, 3, 99-109. http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/number/The-New-Atlanticism-17695

Sakwa, R. (2017). The Ukraine Syndrome and Europe: between norms and space. The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review, 44, 9-31. https://doi.org/10.1163/18763324-04401003

Sakwa, R. (2022). Deception: Russiagate and the new Cold War. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Sarotte, M.E. (2022). Not one inch: America, Russia and the making of post-Cold War stalemate. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press

Streeck, W. (2016). How will capitalism end? Essays on a Failing System. London: Verso.

Tsygankov, A.P., & Parker, D. (2015). The securitization of democracy: Freedom House ratings of Russia. European Security, 24(1), 77-100. https://doi.org/10.1080/09662839.2014.968775

Waltz, K.N. (2000). Structural Realism after the Cold War. International Security, 25(1), 5-41. 

Content No. 2, 2023

See also:


Malakhov V.S.,
Immigration regimes in Western States and in Russia: the political theory aspects. Part II. – Polis. Political Studies. 2010. No4

Arbatov A.G.,
Nuclear reloading and international security. – Polis. Political Studies. 2011. No3

Sakwa R.,
Axiological vs dialogical politics in contemporary Europe. – Polis. Political Studies. 2014. No2

Nikitin A.I.,
Modern World Order, Its Crisis and Prospects. – Polis. Political Studies. 2018. No6

Sergunin A.A.,
International Security: New Approaches and Concepts. – Polis. Political Studies. 2005. No6

 

   

Introducing an article



Polis. Political Studies
1 2010


Sheynis V.L.
Russia’s national security. durability trial. Part II

 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