Europa Środkowo-Wschodnia we współczesnych rosyjskich koncepcjach geopolitycznych

• Authors: Bornio Jakub

Title variants

EN

East-Central Europe in the contemporary Russian geopolitical concepts

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

No doubt that the region of East-Central Europe is the field of interests of contemporary Russian geopolitics and is believed to be special influence zone for Kremlin decision makers. The article analysed the ideas of three main schools of contemporary Russian geopolitics, which are Atlanticism, Neo-Eurasianism and „Island-Russia”. Although each of them refers to the different image of Russia and its role in the international politics, they also have something in common i.e. reconstruction of the empire. Dmitri Trenin who represents the Atlanticism considers Russia as a part of the Western world, with whom it should establish the new international community. Aleksandr Dugin the most influential representative of Neo-Euroasianism believes that Russia should rebuild great Eurasian Empire, while Vadim Tsymbursky in his concept of „Island-Russia” want Russia to be separated from outer civilizations. The same applies to their geopolitical plans toward the region of East-Central Europe. Their ideas differ from each other, but still one may find convergent postulates. The most coherent among their concepts is a common perception of the subregion referred to by Trenin as the „new Eastern Europe”, which contains territory of today’s Belarus and Ukraine. Regardless of whether the researchers represent a liberal Atlanticism school or a realistic Neo-Eurasianism school, everyone agrees on the key importance of that territory for the Russian geopolitical identity. Tsymbursky also considers Belarus and left-blank Ukraine as the most important areas of the „western Limitrof”. It is worth noting that both Trenin and Dugin are ready to „give up sovereignty” over the territory of the Baltic States. Trenin accepts their westernization, while Dugin puts them into German influence zone to satisfy Berlin’s imperial ambitions. This may prove that regardless of preferred theoretical approach, Russians treat Ukraine and Belarus as an impassable for western influence border. Ideas of Russian geopoliticians to make use of the region may threaten East‑ Central European countries. This results from the treatment of this territory as an area that should be absorbed by the neighboring empires or be functioning as a buffer zone. East-Central Europe is an area of competition between the West and Russia for both Dugin and Tsymbursky. They wish the region not to be absorbed by the „core of Europe”. Only Trenin accepts sovereign choices of the nations from East-Central Europe and does not recognize their willingness to integrate with the western structures as a threat to Russia. One should bear in mind however that Atlanticism approach does not reflect Russian way of political thinking nowadays. Certainly, the ideas of Aleksander Dugin and Vadim Tsymbursky are much more influential, especially while referring them to the political activity of Kremlin as well as the Russian imagination of their country and its role in the global chessboard. Nevertheless, due to the high influence of Russian geopolitical doctrines on the political circles in Moscow, awareness of them – especially among the countries of the region – is more than required. Moreover, because of their strong correlation with the paradigm of realism, they may become a valuable material for analyzing the current and prospective activities of the Russian Federation and make possible to understand Russian geopolitical identity and its perception of the world.

Keywords

EN

Geopolitics; atlanticism; neo-euroasianism; Cetral-eastern Europe

• Publisher: Oficyna Wydawnicza Arboretum
• Journal: Wschodnioznawstwo
• Year: 2017
• Issue: 11
• Pages: 85-108

Contributors

author

Bornio Jakub

• Uniwersytet Wrocławski

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