Facing up to the Bear: Confronting Putin’s Russia, Essay Example

President Putin Vladimir of Russia made a decision on how to end post-Cold War eras in Europe by annex Crimea. There hadbeen unpredicted disputesand co-operations between Russia andthe West since theyears of late Gorbachev-Reagan. In thissituation, the underlying sense of Russia has beenjoiningtheinternationalordergradually. Thenewera is defined by territorialoccupation, nationalistic resurgence, and ideological clashes. Thisera is similar to tragicperiods of confrontations in Europe during the 20th century. In thecoming decades, there are importantunderstandingsanddifferences, which will be used forthesuccessfulforeignpolicy of America. Nobody seeksany of theseconfrontations. BecauseRussiadid not winthecoldwarfully, a neweracrept on it. Russian powerdiminished, Soviet Union disappeared, andcommunismfaded.

Whenthesovietordercollapsed, itdid not lead to a smoothtransition to marketsanddemocracy inside Russia. In addition, there wasnosmoothintegration by Russia into thewest. Thisenabledsome Russians to havemorale in pushing forward on theagenda of revolutionchanges[1]. Positiveresultswereproducedbecause of therevolutionarychanges. The Russian societywasricher than ever before,the Soviet empirecollapsedpeacefully, there wasdemocratic functioning of theinstitutions, andtherights of individualswereprotected. With theintroduction of democracy, there wasimperiallossandeconomicdepression, which generated a backlash of counterrevolutionary. Thiswasaiming at theresentment of theterms, which ended Cold War andtheoldorder. Thosewhoproposedthisperspectivewere not in themajority. Thecoming to power of Mr. Putin whowasthe advocate of thisideologywasinevitable.

Mr. Putin changed his ownthought as itwas relying in between therealisticneeds of Russia to moveforwardand reminiscence of theoldrule. Russia picked up its internaltransformation in 2008 when Mr. Putin selected Dmitri Medvedev whowasleaning on the West as his successor. Russia wasisolatedfor a time in 2008 whenitinvaded Georgia. Russia regainedmomentum in its integration into theexisting global order after sometime. Itwasthefirstyears in governmentthatcooperation on mutualbenefitissues between presidents Obama andpresident Medvedev were realized. Themutualbenefitsincluded; Russian membership in World tradeorganization, newstarttreaty, newsupplyroutes to soldiers in Afghanistan, andnewsanctions against Iran[2]. Theresults of theresetled to advancement in severalvitalnationalinterests of America. The American post-Cold War policy of integrationandengagementappeared to be workingagain. This is becauseitwaspracticed by Republican and Democratic administrations.

Thismomentumslowedandlaterstopped in theyear 2012 when Mr. Putin becamethepresident. Thistimewhen Mr. Putin returned, thousands of Russians were in streetsprotesting against unaccountablegovernmentand falsified elections. Mr. Putin waspraisedbecauseherestoredthestate by growing its economy. Mr. Putin did not give a clearresponse to the Russians whowantedmoreservices from him by proposing him forthethirdterm. Young, wealthy, and educated protesters in Moscow annoyed Mr. Putin. This is becausetheyfailed to recognizeandappreciate him for his efforts to make them rich. Mr. Putin institutedrestrictionsandpivotedbackward on independentbehavior suggestive of thesovietdays. Hearrested demonstrators, attackedtheindependentmedia, anddemandedthewealthy to bring their richesbackhome. In addition to autocracy, Mr. Putin demanded United States to strengthen his legitimacy as its enemy. His propagandistsrolled out American clips on immoralpractices, imperialism, andallegedplans to overthrow Putin’s government.

The ideological struggle between democracyandautocracyreturned to Europe as compared to thelastcentury. Thisbattledid not disappearfullybecausedemocraticinstitutionsdid not fullytakeroot in Russia. Democraticsocietiesneed to embraceandrecognizethenormativeandintellectualstruggle against thissystem as proposed by Mr. Putin’s rule of autocracy[3]. Thiswasthesamevigorused to summon in Europe against any anti-democratic governments. Thiswas before Kremlin hadboththecapacityandintention to underminestatesandgovernmentsusinginstruments like media, money, military, energy, andsecretpolice. Certainpolicystepswererecommendedusingthesesimilarities. Most importantly, Ukraine must succeed as a marketeconomy, a democracy, and a state. Thehighest on his reformlist must be diversification andenergyefficiency, as well as corruptionandmilitaryreforms. Otherstates that wereexposed in theregion as Georgia and Moldova neededurgent bolstering.

In addition, in the 20th centurythosestates in theside of thegovernmentwereprotectedandassured. NATO hadmoved in quickly, buttheeffortsweresustained by putting in hardware that is more militaryandmoreintegrationandtraining of forces[4]. Neweffortswerealsomade to reducethedependence of NATO countries on Russian energy. Thecurrentregime should be isolated as itwasbefore. During thecoldwarand World War II, United States andotheralliesdecided to cooperate with Mr. Putin. This is becausetheyhadnooption as thevitalinterestshadoverlapped. Thiswas not to pull Russia backwards into acceptinginternationalvaluesandnorms, butit should be wellunderstood as strictly transactional. It cannot be determinedorsaidhowlongthecurrentautocraticgovernment will endure in Russia.

Aiming to establish Russian partnership with other administrators around the globe, it could be realized how strongly the governance of Putin is viewed around the globe. Although some might see it aggressive, Putin’s strategies in making up a great impact on how Russia is known worldwide specifically determines the condition by which Russia takes a particular stand against administrational commonality. Instead of copying what other governments are trying to accomplish, Putin  is less afraid of making a different mark that would determine his willingness to bring his country into a new phase of development, a new phase of distinct procedure of embracing international acceptance especially among nations they hope to establish and nourish relations with.

Expanding the correlative political connections of the country with other neighboring nations is what the work of Putin is about. He aims to declare Russia’s reputation to be somewhat different from what the world has basically known. Nevertheless, there are twists and turns to this developments and the Russian people are expected to face the said challenges as part of their desire to embrace progress as a nation. Working together with the government, Russians would likely be able to define their role in creating a new Russia in the face of global relations. Notably, people ought to give attention to how they work alongside the goals and desires of the government. The capacity of the whole nation to work with each other specifically give attention to how modern societies like Russia try to come up with useful ways of redefining their reputation apart from what the society has already branded tem with; and in this case, Putin is trying to help the nation face such a new aspect of development.

Bibliography

Balzer, Harley. “The Putin thesis and Russian energy policy.” Post-Soviet Affairs 21, no. 3 (2005): 210-225.

Shevtsova, Lilia. Putin’s Russia. Carnegie Endowment, 2010.

Jones, Bill.Tony Blair’s Style of Government: An Interim Assessment – Page 1. Political Issues in Britain Today. Manchester University Press. (5th edition). Published: 1999.

[1]Balzer, Harley. “The Putin thesis and Russian energy policy.” Post-Soviet Affairs 21, no. 3 (2005), p.215.

[2]Shevtsova, Lilia. Putin’s Russia. Carnegie Endowment, 2010, p.129.

[3]Balzer, Harley. “The Putin thesis and Russian energy policy.” Post-Soviet Affairs 21, no. 3 (2005): 220.

[4]Shevtsova, Lilia. Putin’s Russia. Carnegie Endowment, 2010, p.87.