Russia’s Dual Roles in Global Governance as a Traditional Great Power and a Rising Power

Rising Power Quarterly invites submissions of abstracts for a special issue on Russia’s contending and complementary roles in global governance as a traditional great power and a rising power. The issue will discuss the dual role of Russia in world politics with a special focus on its changing role conceptions and performance in regional and major international institutions.

Russia is traditionally regarded as a great power in the IR literature due to its large geographical size, Soviet legacy, rich energy resources, advanced nuclear capabilities and permanent seat at the UN Security Council. These advantages enable Moscow to project significant hard and soft power as well as institutional influence in many formal and informal international platforms.  As also indicated by its latest military campaigns in Ukraine and Syria, Russia still continues to reconstruct its role as as a great power in global politics. However, this is not an easy task considering its shortcomings in the social, economic and democratic spheres. Yet, it should also be recalled that its population has been in constant decline since the collapse of the Soviet Union, while its economic indicators have been deteriorating due to the falling oil prices as well as the Western economic sanctions.

This has urged Russia to associate itself in a more visible way in the last few years with groupings such as BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), where it could develop stronger political and economic links with rising powers such as China and India.

On the other hand, Russia can also be seen as a rising power with distinct characteristics. Already sharing a traditionally powerful ideological affinity with the rising powers in terms of challenging the Western supremacy in international politics, Moscow also strives to create alternatives to the Western-dominated global governance institutions. At the same time, however, it tries to use its strategic realignment with the rising powers to advance its influence in global and regional politics.

This special issue will elaborate on how Russia’s role as a traditional great power contradicts and/or complements its as a rising/emerging power in the global governance system. How does its performance in performing its dual roles in international organizations and groupings/platforms influence Russia’s foreign policy strategies? How can we locate its position in the global governance architecture as a legitimizing/status quo and as a challenging/reformist power? How can we interpret the ambiguities, contradictions and opportunities in its current global governance strategies? The manuscripts are expected to discuss these questions in relation with the evolution of Russia’s priorities and policies in global and regional forums (UN, World Bank, IMF, G-20, BRICS, SCO, APEC to name a few). Manuscripts that analyse Moscow’s diplomatic activism in international organizations with regard to the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria are also welcomed.

Deadline for abstracts: 31 October 2016

Deadline for final manuscripts: 01 January 2016

Online publication: February 2017

For abstract submissions: submissions@risingpowersproject.com

Please click here to see our submission guideline.