Editor's Introduction

Abstract

Although eclecticism is the principal characteristic of the selections that make up this issue of Russian Politics and Law, the first four articles, while very different, reflect the importance that foreign and defense policy matters have for the evolution of the Russian Federation. They also reflect the somewhat discouraging fact that seven years after the end of the cold war, the discrediting of the Communist Party, and the collapse of the Soviet Union, there remains a significant body of opinion highly distrustful of the West—including the United States and NATO, of course. In a sagacious weighing of Russia's security options, Igor' Nikolaichuk ("Military Cooperation Among the CIS Countries As an Element of Their National Security") argues that Russia has two broad conceptual options: either to accept the growth of truly independent centers of power within the boundaries of the old Soviet Union or to shoulder "special responsibility" for stability in Eurasia. He observes critically, but without rancor, that many Westerners favor the former policy as equivalent to preventing the restoration of Russian imperialism.