Ten Theses on ‘Multi-Polarity Russian-Style’

Paul Goble

            Staunton, December 15 – Vlad Kravtsov, a Russian historian at Brown University, has presented ten theses on “multi-polarity Russian-style” on the Gefter portal, theses both individually and collectively that say much about what that idea means in Moscow and could mean for the world eventually (gefter.ru/archive/16939).

            Kravtsov’s theses are the following:

1.      “Discussion of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation must not be reduced to the question of the characteristics of the regime.”

2.      “The Russian Federation has a big strategy although it is not obvious for observers.”

3.      “Adherence to the ideal of a multi-polar world should be taken seriously.”

4.      “The institutions of a unipolar world work, but the Russian elite doesn’t see this” and “despite the positive rhetoric of the authorities, institutions in a multi-polar world have secondary importance.”

5.      “For Moscow the issue of the state as such is important.”

6.      “The use of hard force beyond the borders of the Russian Federation is completely rational.”

7.      “Involvement in Syria continues the former strategy of the Russian Federation. It does not destroy it.”

8.      “One must not underrate one’s own vulnerability especially in the long term.”

9.      “The importance of civilizational uniqueness is secondary for world politics.”

10.  “The birth of a multi-polar world remains in doubt.”

In the course of his 2700-word article, Kravtsov discusses each of these in detail and provides sources for each of his assertions.