“Fortress-Russia”: Geopolitical Destiny, Unintended Consequences, or Policy Choices?

Ch. 6. P. 97–112.

Melville A. Y.

This chapter examines the recent phenomenon of "the return of geopolitics" within the current Russian political and ideological context. Russian geopolitical narrative with its roots in the so-called "Neo-Eurasianism" should be understood as one of the crucially important components of the new conservative wave in Russian politics and ideology presenting a new version of the long-awaited after the fall of Soviet Communism Russian national idea. Along with the simplified "black and white" geopolitics, among its other components one should mention the concept of Russia as a unique civilization state with a special mission in the world, a belief in the irreconcilable clash of values and ideologies, social conservatism based on traditional values and religious fundamentalism, and political conservatism as the defense of the status quo. This new conservative consensus seems to be rather durable as it reflects the status quo priorities of the central authorities and powerful elite groupings seeking guaranteed access to rents; conservative attitudes of the specific "middle class" dependent on the state and without democratic request; as well as dominant public attitudes. However, there may be various sources of potential vulnerability of the current neo-conservative "consensus," which are analyzed in the conclusion of this chapter.

Keywords: geopolitics

In book

The Return of Geopolitics

Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2018.