After the collapse of the USSR : the new role of Russia

Abstract

The aim of this work is to explore the role of Russia after the collapse of the USSR. Therefore in order to understand the complex issues that Russia has had to encounter it is important to evaluate the recent history of Russia. Thus Chapter I, and Chapter II, have been dedicated to Russia's Communist experience: an experience that was bound to leave its impact on the new Russian Federation that emerged from the failure of glasnost and perestroika. As a result, Communism in Russia left a legacy that partly reflects Russia's situation today: one that has left its positive and negative aspects as to what New Russia is and will be in the future. In 1991, the disintegration of the USSR brought about a wave of nationalism and separatism within the Union itself and the emergence of the CIS. As a consequence, the role of the CIS has been analyzed, in Chapter III, together with its implications on the domestic level. Historically reforms in Russia have many times come from above, the failure of 'shock therapy' in Russia ushered in an un-paralleled economic crisis. Having examined Russia's role on the domestic level in Chapter III one can only conclude that, the contribution to its population at large has been at times neglected, with crime posing a threat not only to its political and social evolution but also to international society. This was triggered by Russia's financial crisis. Chapter IV analyses Russia's Foreign Policy, its aims and ambitions m the international arena. Since 1991, Russia's foreign policy has been a major concern not only to the US but also to Russia's neighbors. As Russia struggled to re-assert its influence over its traditional sphere of influence through the CIS, it also emphasized the point that Russia was willing to cooperate with the West and with any new collective security arrangements on the world stage. Yet in the case of the Kosovo conflict, Russia's failure to achieve policy coherence forced the other powers to sideline and eventually exclude any significant Russian role in the negotiating process. In its relations with other states Russia has worked hard to obtain security and well being through a series of agreements and treaties. Russia has many important issues on its foreign policy agenda amongst which has been the protection of Russian nationals in the ex-Soviet republics, the question of the 'near abroad'. In the early 1990s the US and the Russian Federation have together achieved remarkable results in their negotiations over Nuclear Arms Control. However, as the initial euphoria of the West to the collapse of Communism declined, the age of confrontation that was supposed to end with the Cold War seems to have re-surfaced. This has been set off by Russia's mistrusts of NATO's moves closer to its borders, and the West's particularly the USA' s, fear of Russia's mismanagement and neglect of its nuclear technology. Nevertheless while Russia's weakness 'has been taken for granted', being somehow relegated to a lesser power by a number of political analysts on the assumption that the Russian federation may even break up into smaller pieces, the fact remains that Russia still has the potential and resources to protect its vital interests and restore its weight on the world stage. Chapter IV draws a conclusion. It summarizes all the arguments raised in exploring Russia's new role. In this chapter an examination of 'why Russia still matters' is confronted together with an explanation of Russia's ambivalence towards the West.