The Geopolitical Orientations of Ordinary Russians: A Public Opinion Analysis

Abstract

The authors examine some of the classic ideas of geopolitical analysis using a recent survey of Russian public opinion. Problematizing prevailing assumptions and binaries in geopolitical discourse, they pose a series of questions that provide measures of Russia's geopolitical orientations. Do more Russians think of their country as European or Eurasianist? If the United States is judged the most important state for Russian foreign policy, what country do most respondents view as the most appropriate model for Russia? Logit modeling of the ranking of state importance and preferences of countries as models for Russia show consistent and clear relationships with cleavages in Russian society along socio-demographic and ideological lines. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F01, F02, Z13. 5 figures, 2 tables, 44 references.

Keywords:

• geopolitical culture
• geopolitical traditions
• geopolitical imaginations
• Russia
• public opinion surveys