Semi-Peripheral Russia and the Ukraine Crisis

ABSTRACT

The nature of Russia's nascent capitalism defines its Russian foreign policy and particularly its involvement in the Ukraine crisis. The author rejects the “two imperialisms” thesis concerning East-West confrontation. He departs from the world-system approach and defines Russian capitalism as a semi-periphery of the world system. This means that Russia is half-dependent on the West. On the other hand, it is able to challenge Western hegemony on certain issues. The nature of the country’s big business is seen as short-term, rent-seeking behaviour, inconsistent with sound investment and long-term development. Atomisation of the ruling class creates preconditions for a strong authoritative state. However, the Russian ruling elite is deeply split into two factions: one oriented to integration with the West (comprador elite) and the other favouring the strengthening of independent Russian capitalism. Russian foreign policy is shaped by the opposition and compromises between these two groups. That is the reason why it is so inconsistent and contradictory. Particularly in Ukraine, Russia tries to withstand Western challenge, but leaves open options for accommodation. The Russian attempt to make the West regard its national interests within the framework of the current world order, according to the present paper, is doomed to failure.

KEYWORDS:

• Russian capitalism
• the new Cold War
• world-system approach
• Ukraine crisis
• Russian foreign policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Ruslan Dzarasov is head of the Department of Political Economy at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Russia. He specialises in corporate governance, investment behaviour of firms, the Soviet and post-Soviet Russian economy. His recent publications include For the Better of Ukrainian Crisis through the Lens of the World-System Approach (Moscow: Lenand, 2016, in Russian), The Conundrum of Russian Capitalism: The Post-Soviet Economy in the World System (London: Pluto Press, 2014).

Notes

1 See the books on the world-system approach, explaining the core-periphery model in Wallerstein (2004), Frank (1978), Amin (2010), and Bagchi (2008).

2 MSKSNG stands for Mezhgosudarstvennyy Statisticheskiy Komitet Sodruzhestva Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv (International Statistical committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States).

3 See more in Dzarasov (2012).

4 This was an important precondition for the current Ukraine crisis: “… NATO expansion has contributed to—indeed, one can reasonably argue that it has been the principal cause of—a dangerous geopolitical struggle for influence in the countries to Russia’s West and South, above all Ukraine” (Walker 2015, 144).

5 Ukraine oligarchs were also split into two factions according to their economic interests, which were seeking accommodation with the West or with Russia (Buzgalin 2015).

6 VKP stands for Vseobshchaya Konfederatsiya Profsoyuzov (General Confederation of Trade Unions).