Carr goes east
Reconsidering power and inequality in a post-liberal Eurasia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7989485 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kevork Oskanian (0000-0001-5188-924X, University of Birmingham, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 172-189 |
| Publication date | 2018-11-09 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Politics and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2374-5126 • E-ISSN: 2374-5118 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/23745118.2018.1545183 |
| OpenAlex | W2899805711 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 49 |
This paper analyses Western policies towards Russia from the realist perspective of E.H. Carr. His critique of inter-war liberal ‘utopianism’ pointed to the tendency of liberal states to disregard the role of power in shaping an international normative order of their making; their discounting of contingency in favour of a progressive, teleological view of history; and their insensitivity to the structural inequalities reproduced by that order. These predispositions can also be observed in the liberal West’s policies towards Russia since the end of the Cold War. A teleologically expanding ‘Kantian zone of peace’ centred on the EU and NATO – and based on the liberal tripod of institutions, democracy, and free trade – became the core of Europe’s de facto security regime. Uncovering the power-political behind the normative, a Carrian perspective explains the gradual deterioration in relations between the West and Russia through the latter’s exclusion from institutions shaped at a time of its acute weakness, its inability to counter the symbolic power of democracy through political reforms, and its structural consignation to the semi-periphery of the globalised economic system. The article concludes by proposing a realist alternative for future engagement with Moscow
Carr · Contingency · Democracy · Epistemology · Liberal democracy · Liberalism · Normative · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Teleology · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Philosophy · Political Conflict and Governance · Russia and Soviet political economy
The Guns of August 2008
Russia's Postcolonial Identity
Democracy and War
Medvedev's Potemkin Modernization
Electing to Fight
Liberal Internationalism 3.0
In victory, magnanimity
Subaltern Empire
Neoliberalism and the Russian transition
Social Forces, States and World Orders
From Alliance to Security Community
Bourdieu, International Relations, and European security
The August 2008 war in Georgia
The transformation of political community
The Utopian realism of E. H. Carr
The Commonwealth of Independent States
Russia's Spheres of Interest , not Influence
Russia and the West
Kant or Cant
Escaping the enlargement trap in Nato-Russian relations
The Use and Abuse of History
Russia and the Deadlock over Kosovo
The End of Eurasia
The formation of the Eurasian Economic Union
East European Public Support for Nato Membership
The normative ethics of the European Union
Power-loss or power-transition? Assessing the limits of using the energy sector in reviving Russia’s geopolitical stature
Vladimir Putin's Vision of Russia as a Normal Great Power
The End of the Transition Paradigm
Surging Illiberalism in the East
The Third Leg of the Kantian Tripod for Peace
Europe and the political
From ‘feckless pluralism’ to ‘dominant power politics’? The transformation of Russia's party system
Foreign policy, rhetorical action and the idea of otherness
Neorealism and Russia’s Ukraine policy, 1991-present
Kosovo and the Metaphor War
From Pristina to Tskhinvali
Russian 'deniable' intervention in Ukraine
Russia resurgent? Moscow's campaign to 'coerce Georgia to peace
The Rise of Illiberal Democracy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |