Free Essay About Political Science - Russia's Politics

Russia's Politics

1. Many experts describe Russia as a state capitalism system in which the purpose of the economy is to enrich the state. Given its rich supply of energy resources, is Russia likely to become more influential in global politics/explain. Students may also want to take into consideration the recent drop in Brent benchmark per barrel for crude oil, and how this may affect the Russian economy.
The key motives of the Russian authorities is to promote patriotism and love to the Motherland providing the Russian people with information about developments and achievements leaving problems and challenges behind. The country is building state capitalism aiming at enriching the state thus giving the Soviet past the second chance.
The President Putin proved to be a strict and undoubted leader who has enough power to use even obvious failures for his benefit. For quite a long period of time he represented an example of a person who took the country in its worst times and built a powerful and strong State ruled by law. Russia managed to keep friendly political and economic relations even with those countries which were its former enemies. Though Russia remained to strive for re-building a state which would represent best features of the Soviet Union using pressure against its closest neighbors from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Russia needs control over economies of Ukraine and Belarus among other post-Soviet states because of their close interconnection and common technological level.
However, Russia is one of the most well-provided with natural resources, especially with gas and oil, it also puts this country into dependance on demand for this commodities. As the development of the global economy needed more and more energy sources, Russia gained more and more influence in the international arena. With such countries as Germany and France importing gas, the Russian Federation has power to affect European decisions. Moreover, the government continues to devote huge amounts of money to the security issues with Russia still remaining the list of countries with the largest military budgets. This all can serve as an example of realism in the theory of international relations because Russia is occupied with preserving its national interests by all means possible sometimes even without paying due attention to the international framework within which it exists.
That is why now facing the three-fold drop in the crude oil prices Russia may slip into recession similar to that one it suffered in nineties. The year budget was planned on the level of 80$ per barrel that is why it was forced to use its reserves. The European sanctions and worsening of Russian-American relations make the exporters and importers suffer from money losses and unsold excesses. It also influences exchange rates making ruble as weak as never before and pushing inflation to sky-high levels.
With all these factors, Russia seems to be losing its influence on the global arena while its international relations with the world leading countries are deteriorating day by day. If all of this continues, Russia will have to survive the most catastrophic crisis it has ever experienced.
2. If you were a leader of the European Union, how might you prevent Russia from using its control of natural gas as a political tool to get what it wants in the system? The current crisis between Russia and Ukraine is a good case study, so feel free to include recent references to it. You can refer to articles in the New York Times and other elite media, and other media sources. Check media links in the syllabus.
Being a leader of the European Union or a president o one particular European country would not give me a chance to prevent Russia from using natural resources Europe depends on as a political tool to get what it wants. I am positive that this problem can not be solved even in one year perspective. To achieve this aim Europe has to diversify its gas supply as much as possible leaving Russia much more less share in its imports than it has now. Until it is done, Russia will continue to direct European decisions for its own benefit by simple threat of decreasing gas supplies.
The Russian-Ukrainian withstanding proved that Europe may not rely on Russia as well as Ukraine in the questions of energy security. Thus it has to promote the warming in the relations with the Persian Gulf countries trying to avoid being manipulated by Russia. It also may help to achieve more globally recognized aim of lessening Russia's influence in general, turn it to framework of structural realism instead of classical realism. If this happens, Russia will pay more attention to the state of international relations which will form its foreign policy. This means it will continue to preserve its national interest as every state must do but it also will consider the global conditions and challenges before making decisions.
Moreover, the Russia-Ukrainian conflict proved that Russia possesses liberal internationalism features that justify military invasions and unsanctioned humanitarian aid in order to pursue liberal objectives. This makes Russia to be a country lacking respect to national sovereignty of other states. That is why Europe has to either diversify its energy suppliers or to find a political tool that can be used in response to Russian one. If Europe succeeds in both options, it will be perfect. And the sooner, the better.
3. Given the Russian strategy suggested in this story, can we speculate on what might happen as the world decides how the Arctic and all of its resources might be exploited? You can find background information on the arctic in James Astill. "Too Much to Fight over,"Article 29, in Global Environmental Issues, Unit 7, Weiner, Robert (ed)., World Politics 13/14.pp.143-144.
It is well-known fact that Russia builds its strategy based on geopolitics thus any decision made by the highest level of authorities must take into account not only immediate consequences but also long perspective. This is why the matter of exploitation of the Arctic and the Antarctic in the near future is of high importance.
The Arctic is a traditional area of Russian interests. This country has started the long process on exploring the Arctic and living on it because the Russian population in this region is the largest. Since it became evident that this region is very rich in mineral resources all Arctic countries has raised a question about it exploitation. Today it is governed by the Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982) but some issues are still disputable.
If Russia, following sectoral principle of the Arctic division and the rights provided in the above-mentioned Convention and having jurisdiction over 200 nautical miles as Arctic shelf and exclusive economic area, extends its presence on 350 nautical miles further claiming rights on the Lomonosov ridge, it will become the most provided with natural gas and oil country. This again will raise its influence on the global processes and will lead to creation the world's state-owned oil giant. Of course, the Russians now are collecting necessary proves for supporting their claim. Moreover, they have already solved long-standing disputes with Norway concerning the exploitation of the Barents Sea.
That is why I suppose that the issue about the exploitation of the Arctic is almost solved in favor of Russians meeting interests of other Arctic countries. However, countries that do not have access to the Arctic region claim it to be the world heritage. Thus every country which possesses necessary technology may explore and develop the area that does no belong to economic zone of any of five Arctic states. It is interesting how international law, namely Law of the Sea (LOS) will change or not in response to such challenges.