BOOK REVIEW The ideas that drive Russia Russia as an Aspiring Great Power in East Asia by Paradorn
Rangsimaporn
Reviewed by Dmitry Shlapentokh
The book deals with the Russian elite's approach to China and Japan as well as
other countries in the region. Paradorn Rangsimaporn, a Thai diplomat who
received his academic training in the United Kingdom, engaged in painstaking
research and drew from a vast variety of sources.
His methodological approach to the problem was also quite sound. The author
made a clear definition of the elite, dividing them into several layers. He
also had a sound approach to the role of the image of a foreign country in
shaping a country's foreign policy. He does not subscribe to an over-simplistic
relationship. He does not believe that a country's image in itself shapes
foreign policy; still, it is important, for it informs about the view of the
elite and provides some insight into its posture.
Paradorn paid considerable attention to Eurasianism, the philosophical and
quasi-political creed that has become quite popular in post-Soviet Russia. The
major difference between Eurasianism and the previous paradigms of Russian
imperial nationalism is the great interest in Asia and the assumption that Asia
played a large role in the shaping of Russian civilization.
Eurasianists also believe that Russia should look for allies in Asia.
Eurasianists, as Paradorn rightly admitted, are not homogenous groups, each of
them having a different image of friends and enemies. The assumption that Asian
countries could be seen as Russia's major allies does not mean that all
Eurasianists are ready to accept any Asian country as Russia's friend.
For example, as the author rightly admitted, Alexandr Dugin, one of the leading
proponents of Eurasianism in present-day Russia, who regards Muslims, mostly
Iranians, and the Turkic people of the former Soviet Central Asian states,
especially Kazakhstan, as Russia/Eurasia a major ally, looks at China with
hostility.
One might note, in this instance, that Dugin's view of China is more
complicated. He, indeed, regards China as a potential threat to Russia. Still,
Dugin does not regard China as the ultimate threat, the force with which
Russian will collide, regardless of anything.
This role is given only to the United States, seen by Dugin, at least in most
of his writings, as Russia/Eurasia's primordial threat. China, Dugin assumes,
could be useful for Russia as a counterbalance to the US, especially if the
Chinese authorities decide to channel China's demographic expansion to the
south.
One could also add that it is not just Dugin who looks at China with suspicion.
This is also the view of representatives of those segments of Eurasianism who
emphasize the Islamic aspect of Russian/Eurasian civilization.
Dugin, while accepting Muslims of various ethnic origins as an essential part
of Russian/Eurasian civilization, still relegates them to the position of
“younger brothers”, those who play the role of second fiddle in ethnic and
geopolitical arrangements.
Those who represented the Islamic variation of Eurasianism assume that the
Muslims of the Russian Federation, people of diverse ethnic backgrounds, should
be either equal to Russians or even play a leading role in the country. These
Eurasianists, overlooked by Paradorn, possibly because he does not regard them
as playing a visible role among the Russian elite, also have a rather skeptical
view of China; they hardly see it as an ally of Muslim Eurasia and in the
future even more dangerous than the US.
While some Eurasian-minded intellectuals have a rather skeptical view of China,
others have a clearly positive view. This is, for example, the case with the
communists. For them, as the author noted, China represented the model for
Russia and an alternative to Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms.
They believed that China could be a much more trusted ally than the West. While
the communists became marginal, especially during the Vladimir Putin/Dmitry
Medvedev era, this view has influenced some of the Russian ruling elite.
Yevgeny Primakov, who was at one time prime minister of Russia, had dreamed of
creating an axis that would include Russia, China and India. The goal of this
alliance would be to counter-balance the US.
Primakov's doctrine had a clear influence on Putin, and later on Medvedev's
policy. And while Primakov was obsessed with founding a counter-balance to the
US, Putin, and later Medvedev, are more pragmatic. They are not obsessed with
the US and see China as just one of the possible geopolitical options.
The Chinese card could be used in dealing with the US in the same way as the US
card could be used in dealing with China. As Paradorn implied, the Russian
elite understood well that the other players, eg, the US and China, could do
the same.
To conclude, the book is well-researched and organized and is a useful
contribution in the study of Russia's approach to East Asia, especially China,
in the past 20 years of post-Soviet history.
Russia as an Aspiring Great Power in East Asia: Perceptions and Policies from
Yeltsin to Putin by Paradorn Rangsimaporn. Palgrave Macmillan
(September 29, 2009). ISBN-10: 0230210112. Price US$84.95, 272 pages.
Dmitry Shlapentokh, PhD, is associate professor of history, College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences, Indiana University South Bend. He is author of East
Against West: The First Encounter - The Life of Themistocles, 2005.
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Eurasianists also believe that Russia should look for allies in Asia.
Eurasianists, as Paradorn rightly admitted, are not homogenous groups, each of
them having a different image of friends and enemies. The assumption that Asian
countries could be seen as Russia's major allies does not mean that all
Eurasianists are ready to accept any Asian country as Russia's friend.
