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THE POLITICS OF RUSSIAN POST-SOVIET
IDENTITY:
GEOPOLITICS, EURASIANISM, AND
BEYOND
By Natalia Morozova
Submitted to Central European University
Department of International Relations and European Studies
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Supervisor: Prof. Alexander Astrov
(Word count 67,228)
Budapest, Hungary
August 15, 2011
Abstract
This dissertation analyzes the Russian post-Soviet foreign policy debate from the point
of view of the emergence of two interrelated and mutually reinforcing discourses – discourse
on „geopolitics‟ and discourse on „Eurasianism‟. Instead of equating „geopolitics‟ with the
post-1993 emphasis on great power competition for territorial control and dismissing
„Eurasianism‟ as strategically employed myth-making the way most of the existing literature
does, this dissertation views the „geopolitics‟/‟Eurasianism‟ constellation through the prism of
the link between Russia‟s post-Soviet foreign policy and its evolving political identity. The
discussion is placed within the poststructuralist theoretical framework that stresses identity-
constitutive effects of foreign policy discourses and, more broadly, attempts to problematize
the sedimentation of the social with the help of the political. In particular, different versions
of the „geopolitics‟/‟Eurasianism‟ constellation are analyzed from the point of view of how
well they address the problem of European hegemony in the Russian political discourse and
conceptualize post-Soviet Russia‟s political subjectivity. The study thus draws a comparison
between two discourses on „geopolitics‟/‟Eurasianism‟ – the „pragmatic‟ nationalist discourse
advocated by Russian foreign-policy makers, and „civilizational‟ geopolitical discourse
critical of the official coupling of „geopolitics‟ and „Eurasianism‟. Instead of reducing the
„pragmatic‟ nationalist discourse to instrumentalist foreign policy making, it is conceptualized
in terms of its contribution to the process of Russian post-Soviet identity construction.
Pragmatic nationalist „geopolitics‟/‟Eurasianism‟ constellation is understood as an attempt to
tackle European hegemony by negating relations that contradict Russia‟s vision of itself and
by grounding Russia‟s great power status in geography. By contrast, „civilizational‟
geopolitics is positioned as a discourse of critique and contestation whereby the
Eurocentrism/Western-centrism of Russian collective self-identification is „destabilized‟
through a reconceptualization of Russian post-Soviet foreign policy. This reconceptualization,
in turn, is achieved through a reappraisal of the conceptual legacies of European inter-war
geopolitics and Russian post-revolutionary Eurasianism. Thus, the research question and, at
the same time, the puzzle that informs this study is why – why did post-Soviet Russia witness
a rise of „civilizational‟ geopolitics that proceeded by way of revisiting both classical
geopolitics and classical Eurasianism? In order to answer this question, the dissertation
analyzes both traditions through the prism of the link between foreign policy and identity. The
study concludes that while identity construction was employed instrumentally by the
representatives of the classical geopolitical tradition, the classical Eurasian argument
constantly oscillated between putting politics to the service of national cultural development
or converting territoriality into identity. Consequently, the major contributions of
„civilizational‟ geopolitics – the geopolitical constructions „Continent Eurasia‟ and „Island
Russia‟ – are assessed based on whether they succeed in conceptualizing Russia‟s political
subjectivity by way of forging a non-instrumentalist and non-essentialist link between
Russia‟s civilizational distinctiveness and its post-Soviet foreign policy.
Declaration
I hereby declare that no parts of this thesis have been submitted towards a degree at any other
institution different from CEU. To the best of my knowledge, the thesis does not contain any
unreferenced materials or ideas of other authors.
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Signature
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Russian post-Soviet Discourse on „Geopolitics‟ and „Eurasianism‟:
Reconstructing the Link between Foreign Policy and Identity..........................................
1.1.The Primacy of „Geopolitics‟ over „Eurasianism‟ in Russian post-Soviet Foreign
Policy: The Three Stories.............................................................................................
1.1.1. Neo-Eurasian Discourse on „Geopolitics‟ and „Eurasianism‟.............................
1.1.2. Fundamentalist Nationalist Discourse on „Geopolitics‟ and „Eurasianism.........
1.1.3. Pragmatic Nationalist Discourse on „Geopolitics‟ and „Eurasianism‟................
1.2. Mutual Constitution of Identity and Foreign Policy in the Discourse........................
1.3.The „Geopolitics‟/‟Eurasianism‟ Constellation: Reconstructing post-Soviet Russia‟s
Political Subjectivity....................................................................................................
Chapter 2. „Geopolitics‟ and „Eurasianism‟ in the Russian post-Soviet Discourse...........
2.1. Foreign Policy/Identity Link in the Official Foreign Policy Discourse......................
2.1.1. Liberal Discourse on „Geopolitics‟ and „Eurasianism‟........................................
2.1.2. Fundamentalist Nationalist Discourse on „Geopolitics‟ and „Eurasianism‟……
2.1.3. Pragmatic Nationalist Discourse on „Geopolitics‟ and „Eurasianism‟…………
2.2. Foreign Policy/Identity Link in the Academic/Foreign Policy Expert Discourse…..
2.2.1. „Modernist‟ Geopolitics………………………………………………………..
2.2.2. „Traditionalist‟ Geopolitics.................................................................................
Chapter 3. European Inter-War Geopolitical Discourse: Establishing a Link between
Geostrategy and Identity………………………………………………………………..
3.1. Ratzelian Geopolitics: Ignoring Identity in the Name of Geostrategy……………..
3.2. Post-Ratzelian Geopolitics: Advancing Geostrategy in the Name of Identity…….
3.3. European post-WWII Geopolitical Discourse: Critiquing the Link between
Geostrategy and Identity………………………………………………………………..
Chapter 4. Russian post-Revolutionary Eurasianism: Severing the Link between
Foreign Policy and Identity……………………………………………………………..
4.1. A Turn to the East, or the Geography of „Russia-Eurasia‟…………………………
4.2. A Turn to the East, or the Historical-Cultural Origins of „Russia-Eurasia‟………...
4.3. Back to the West, or the Eurasian Ambivalence Regarding Politics……………….
4.4. Eurasian Impasse: Between Culture and Politics ………………………………….
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