StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Russia Geopolitical Profile - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The paper "Russia Geopolitical Profile" highlights that Russia has remained a powerful actor in the Eurasian region. The size of this country has also ensured that it pursues a complex foreign policy designed to address its interests with its numerous neighbours…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98.5% of users find it useful
Russia Geopolitical Profile
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Russia Geopolitical Profile"

Russia Geopolitical Profile Introduction Russia is one of the most influential geopolitical entities in the world today and this is mainly as a result of its unique position in the global arena. This country has been extremely influential in the Eurasian region for much of its history and this influence has not only been political, but cultural as well. The power of this state, from the time of the tsars to the post-communist world can be considered to have essentially remained intact within the region surrounding it. This country is normally ranked second only to the United States in its ability to project its power across the globe and it is mainly as a result of this that it has been able to retain its influence long after falling from its superpower status. Geography Russia is the largest country in the world with its borders stretching from northern Europe across northern Asia to the Bering Straits. As the largest country in the world, with an area of 17,075,400 square kilometres, it is one of the few countries in the world that have a diversity of natural resources, people, as well as neighbouring countries. The result is that this country has come to exert a lot of influence over a large territory as well as its neighbours for centuries. Its geographical position is unique because it allows it to wield some influence on three continents as well as being able to project itself militarily. Russia incorporates a wide range of climates and environments within its territory and these have had an effect on its historical development. Moreover, this country has borders with a diverse number of countries including China, Norway, Lithuania, Finland, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the United States across the Bering Straits, among many others. The geographical position of this country has also placed it on top of the largest oil and gas reserves on the planet and this country has been able to ensure that this resource is used to further its geopolitical power over the Eurasian region. In addition to oil and natural gas, Russia has other significant resources which include deposits of timber, coal, and as well as mineral resources that have given it an advantage over other countries in the region. As the largest producer of natural gas in the world, Russia is in a unique position to determine the futures of some of its neighbouring countries, most of which were former member states of the Soviet Union. It is through its unique position as being the number one producer of natural gas, in addition to oil, that it has been able to ensure that it maintains its influence over the region because it has the funding necessary to make its influence felt. The large forests that are found in the region of Siberia are second only to the Amazon jungle in Brazil and they are believed to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide which helps to ensure that the air in the region is kept clean. The eastern parts of Russia are relatively sparsely populated when compared to the European side which carries the bulk of the population. While this may be the case, there are a significant number of people in all its administrative regions, these being individuals who have for the most part acclimatised to the harsh climate that occurs especially in the northernmost parts of the country. While Russia has come to occupy such a large area, this was not the case in its early centuries where it was essentially divided into diverse city-states and duchies controlled by members of the Rurik dynasty. However, all this changed when these disparate city states were unified and the Russian state began its expansion in earnest during the 16th century. The result was that it ended up conquering much of the land that had once been occupied by the Mongol Golden Horde. Its occupation of new lands sealed its fate in world history because it is through its size as well as its multiethnic make up that this state has come to be recognised into the modern world. Through its new found geographical acquisitions, Russia was able to make sure that it was no longer a victim of the aggression of other European powers. Instead, its geographical position became the basis upon which its status as a great European power was established and this would continue until the fall of Communism in 1991. History A legendary group of Vikings based in Kiev established the Russian state in the tenth century and this would later expand into what came to be known as Russia. The founders of this state, according to legend, were Rurik and his brothers who would eventually end up forming the Rurik dynasty that would rule Russia until the death of Ivan the Terrible (Martin 1995, p.5). The early Russian state was essentially a pagan one with little interaction with the outside world until Prince Vladimir of Kiev converted to Orthodox Christianity, thus establishing ties with the Byzantine Empire. The growth of the Russian state was brought to a sudden halt in the thirteenth century during the Mongol conquest, which resulted in the sacking of Kiev. The destruction of the first Russian state led to a shift of power to Moscow, which was ruled by another Rurik prince and was a vassal of the Mongols (Christian 1998, p.286). The vassalage to the Mongols of the Golden Horde ensured the survival of the Russian state in Moscow in the form of the Grand Duchy of Muscovy. This would eventually rise to such great prominence that it would not only overthrow Mongol rule, but would eventually evolve into the Russian Empire, encompassing all the lands of the Golden Horde. With the conquest of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Turks, Russia, which had also established ties through dynastic marriage, claimed to be the heir to the power and glory of Caesars. In this way, Moscow came to be considered the third Rome and its rulers began to be called Tsars, Russian for Caesar. Russia entered the modern age under the rule of Peter the Great whose efforts were directed at making his country a truly European state. He forced the Russians to cease some of the traditions that seemed to keep them back and were considered unEuropean. Furthermore, he established a new capital closer to Europe at St. Petersburg, essentially choosing it over Moscow as the preeminent city in the Russian Empire (Zitser 2005, p.375). In addition to these efforts, Peter the Great carried out campaigns which ensured that the empire was greatly expanded while at the same time gaining political leverage with other European states through developing modern means of shipping as well as adopting the European culture, especially that of France. However, despite these efforts, Peter was not able to end one of the institutions which held Russia back from becoming one of the most powerful states in Europe, serfdom. Serfdom had existed in Russia for centuries and this institution had developed to such an extent that individuals, particularly serfs, were essentially slaves in their own land. The serfs formed the majority of the Russian population and these were tied to the land which for the most part was held by nobles or boyars; individuals who practically owned the serfs on their land. Serfdom remained a stain in Peter’s legacy and it would eventually be the motivation behind the Russian Revolution centuries later in the early twentieth century. The Russian Revolution and the resulting civil war is one of the most significant events to have taken place in the twentieth century because it ensured the rise of communism in the former Russian Empire, which became the Soviet Union, and later across the globe. The Russian royal family was put to death and the monarchy abolished to be replaced by a communist state under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin. Lenin was a charismatic leader who was a staunch believer in Marxist philosophy and sought to ensure that communism spread all over the world. His death and succession by Josef Stalin led to a new phase in the development of communism in Russia with Stalin choosing a more aggressive approach to that taken by his predecessor. He made a deal with the Nazi government in Germany for the partition of Poland and after the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, he changed sides and joined the allies in the Second World War (Roberts 1992, p.57). The fall of Britain, Germany, and France as great powers after the Second World War paved the way for the Soviet Union to become a global superpower alongside the United States and this ushered in considerable rivalry between these states that became known as the Cold War. The power of these countries was based on their having considerable nuclear arsenals; the latter ensuring that there was no direct confrontation between these superpowers. The fall of communism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 was one of the most significant events in the later twentieth century because it ensured American pre-eminence in a unipolar world. Power Despite its loss of power after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has remained an important player in regional and global politics. One of its greatest strengths is that it has been able to maintain a level of influence over a majority of former soviet republics especially through the significant number of Russians living in these countries (Taagepera 1997, p.476). Furthermore, as a result of its size as well as abundant natural resources, especially natural gas and oil, this country has been able to ensure that it exerts a level of influence over its neighbours. This is especially the case with the European Union which for years developed deals of cooperation with Russia while the latter supplied it with one third of its natural gas supplies. Under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, Russia has seen its influence rise on the global stage, with its becoming more assertive about its interests. Through its permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council, Russia has been able to ensure that it not only protects its legitimate interests, but also those of its allies. The result has been that it has increasingly cooperated with China to break the dominance of the United States and its allies over global affairs. Russia is also a nuclear state with the largest nuclear arsenal in the world and this has helped in securing its position in the globe as well as acting as a deterrent to powers that would otherwise led to its demise. However, despite its strengths, Russia also has several weaknesses which might create a situation where it loses its geopolitical position. Among these is its overreliance on its oil and natural gas production to cater for some 50% of its budget. This overreliance on its natural resources has created a situation where Russia has essentially failed to diversify its economy and this poses a potential threat from a geopolitical perspective. Furthermore, its aggressive stance to protect its natural interests has made it a target for American and European Union sanctions with the latter seeing Russian re-emergence as a threat to their global dominance. These sanctions, imposed in 2014 at the height of the Ukraine crisis and Russian annexation of Crimea, have been harmful to the Russian economy and have led to its shrinking. The fall of global oil prices has also diminished Russia’s budgetary capabilities; hampering its continued rise as a dominant geopolitical power in the Eurasian continent. Russia has attempted to ensure that it no longer loses its influence over former soviet republics after Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania not only joined NATO but also the European Union. This is the reason why Russia has chosen to take on a more aggressive stance because it considers NATO encroachment on its borders as a threat. The wars first in Georgia in 2008 and the ongoing Ukraine civil war are actions which have been taken by Russia to prevent former soviet republics from joining NATO (Leonard, 2014). Since the return of Vladimir Putin to the Russian presidency in 2012, the relationship between Russia and the United States has soured as each has come to view each other with increasing suspicion. The mutual suspicion between these two nuclear armed states has increased tensions to almost Cold War proportions and it has led to a situation where despite not confronting each other directly, they have become involved in a proxy war in the Ukraine as well as in Syria where Russian support has ensured that Bashar Al Assad has remained in power. Conclusion Russia has remained a powerful actor in the Eurasian region; a factor which can be attributed to its nuclear capabilities as well as the abundance of natural resources within its borders. The size of this country has also ensured that it pursues a complex foreign policy designed to address its interests with its numerous neighbours. Russia has increasingly aligned itself with such countries as China and Iran in a bid to diminish American influence over the rest of the world and in a bid to create a multipolar world. It is yet to be seen whether the United States and its allies will meet its geopolitical objectives in the near future amid the economic sanctions that have been enforced. The rise of Russian nationalism as a result of the Ukraine crisis has seen a level of unprecedented support for the Russian government and its actions; a situation which has ensured that the government is able to pursue its objectives internationally with the full support of a majority of the Russian populace. References Christian, D., 1998. A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia. New York, Blackwell Publishing. Leonard, P., 2014. "Ukraine to deploy troops to quash pro-Russian insurgency in the east". Yahoo News Canada. [Online] Available at: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/ukraine-special-forces-sent-eastern-city-retake-buildings-082049113.html [accessed 27/04/2015] Martin, J., 1995. Medieval Russia. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Roberts, G., 1992. "The Soviet Decision for a Pact with Nazi Germany". Soviet Studies, vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 57–78. Taagepera, R., 1997. "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia". International Studies Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 475–504. Zitser, E.A., 2005, "Post-Soviet Peter: New Histories of the Late Muscovite and Early Imperial Russian Court". Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 375–392. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Geopolitical profile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/social-science/1691379-geopolitical-profile
(Geopolitical Profile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 Words)
https://studentshare.org/social-science/1691379-geopolitical-profile.
“Geopolitical Profile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/social-science/1691379-geopolitical-profile.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Russia Geopolitical Profile

Security questions regarding U.S. military support to Turkey

However, since the beginning of the crisis between Syria and Turkey, the efforts of Kurds to promote their geopolitical interests have become quite strong (Dannreuther 2012).... The geopolitical stability of European Union – Supporting the allies' safety as a security question The political and social stability in Turkey can highly affect the geopolitical stability of European Union....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Causes and Solutions of the US and the Middle East Conflict

In addition to the US, China, Britain, Germany and russia have also focused at controlling the oil in the Middle East countries.... 21st November 2012 Causes and Solutions of the US and Middle East Conflict One of the major components that have formed the geopolitics of Middle East is oil issue....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Russias new leader (International Relations)

According to Stratfor, a website devoted to geo-political affairs, “Despite ongoing demographic, economic and geopolitical problems, Russia is using every political and economic — and, increasingly, military — tool at its disposal to reassert itself in the former Soviet Union and try to rake back its former geopolitical position” (George Friedman, 2008).... In the wake of the fall of communism and the breakup of the… After about a decade in the wilderness where it found itself growing neither economically nor playing a great power role that it was used to earlier, russia began to realize that Under Putin, russia began consolidating itself after the traumatic experiences of moving to a market economy and losing ground in Europe....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Rallying the Masses (1 January 1992)

Given our geographical position, our size and importance in the context of Central Asia's geopolitical balance, as well as the definite will of our nation to stand for its independence, we will continue pursuing a multifaceted and well-balanced foreign policy in order to defend our national interest and independent development....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Globalization and the Impact of Supranational Organizations

Therefore, the EU had great promise for it members and have achieved tremendous step in developing trade and commerce among its member states and other geopolitical regions.... However, though the EU have reshaped the tradition geopolitical that existed during the Great War and World War II it has so many challenges, and it's in the brink of disintegrating.... The formation of the EU brought together countries in Western Europe as well as those in Eastern Europe that had their allegiance to the communist regime in russia....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Development in Oil and Gas Retail Industries

russia has been of the major supplier of energy to European Union over the past decades.... One-third of the gas demands of European Union are being delivered by russia.... However, they discussed more about the energy dependency on russia, Ukraine and Crimea....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

Select one of the topics

These plans are majorly on intention of making significant impact on the present geopolitical landscape.... But the most important relationship United States needs to make… It is not necessary for the two countries to have a positive relationship but even having an even relationship that based on animus and doubt....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The Third Largest Company Within the Oil and Energy Sector

From the paper "The Third Largest Company Within the Oil and Energy Sector" it is clear that BP today reflects a strong and diversified portfolio within the industry and is poised for more growth in the future as a result of new investments in several potential regions.... hellip; The merger was criticized by the public and the media, which led to amendments within the charter for Development of the Alaska North Slope....
13 Pages (3250 words) Research Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us