Reading History Response, Research Paper Example

The week’s readings deal with the attempts to reconfigure and reconstruct the Russian military in the years following not only, the breakup of the Soviet union but in the years following the initial outbreak of the global financial crisis. The readings examine not only the “nuts and bolts” of military expansion in terms of actual soldiers and stock-piles bit in terms of the profound changes impacting all areas of the Russian military. The changes can be seen in the types of armaments that are presently being pursued and manufactured as well as in alterations in the military administration. Taken together, the changes that are described in the articles can be understood as radically altering the content and mission of the Russian military. However, the readings also suggest that the degree of change in Russia may be insufficient given the hardships and challenges that the Russian military has faced and will almost certainly continue to face in the future.

What is interesting about the readings is that they address the attempted military reforms in Russia in a “before and after” fashion, carefully detailing the past-conditions and crises that led to the present need for reform in the Russian military. As Pavel Baev points out in “Military Reform Against Heavy Odds” the challenges that face the Russian military are rooted in personal and funding. Baev observes that despite robust efforts to radically change the structure and perceived function of the Russian military, the current situation is anything but stable. This would seem to indicate that the attempted military reforms in Russia have been unsuccessful. One of the main problems is that the lack of financial resources has resulted in a weakening of both the military’s hardware and pool of reliable leaders.

Baev writes that “In the second year of profound reform, the Russian armed forces are in a precarious situation. Further transformation is necessary, but discontent in the ranks and opposition among the top brass are spreading” (Baev, 184). The reason that underlies the present failure of the military reforms, in Baev’s opinion is the tremendous economic hardships that have eroded Russia’s military. This view is substantiated by Baev in various ways. One of the ways he offers support for this argument is to suggest that the senior political and military leadership in Russian has, to some degree, lost touch with reality in their outrageous zeal to reinstate Russia’s military might despite the continuing threat and burden of the global economic downturn.

Baev suggests that the lack of funding creating a gap in reliable leadership which in turn leads to a greater squandering of scant resources. The reason that the Russian leadership has failed to embrace and implement the much needed radical reforms to the military is due to their having, in effect, an outmoded outlook on the nature of the global-political conditions of the present day. instead, the Russian military leadership is convinced that Cold War era issues are still relevant to the disposition and content of the Russian military. Baev observes that, in political terms “the defense policy […] remains out of touch with reality.” He also concludes that the “irresponsible attitude of the leaders toward military reform could be detrimental to the already traumatized armed forces” ( Baev, 185). The conclusions that are offered by Baev are based on his belief that the current leadership in Russia is ill-suited to understanding the current outlook of global politics, especially in relation to the standing and posture of the modern Russian military.

The main thrust of Baev’s insights into the current condition of the Russian military is that Serdyukov’s strategies for reform should be considered sound. The radical underpinnings of some of the reforms that are indicated and sought by Serdyukov may, in fact, not be sufficient in Baev’s view, but they nevertheless indicate a general direction for potential reform. If there is a key idea associated with the desired reforms as expressed by Baev, it is “modernization.” It is the need to modernize and reconstitute the military both in terms of technical specifications and armaments, but in terms of how the leadership Corp is created and maintained an also how the military shapes itself to an entirely different mission than was necessitated by the Cold war. Baev writes that he agrees that the branch of the military that stands most in need of reform is the army. He insists that the degradation of the army poses a serious threat to Russia. Baev remarks that “Overall, the army needs reform the most […] their design flaws could result in extreme deterioration of this central branch of the armed forces” (Baev, 180). All in all the assessments made by Baev are pessimistic in bleak. His viewpoint seems to indicate that Russia’s military is unlikely to transition in any kind of smooth way from its current crisis and the main reason for this, in his estimation, is the profound lack of financial resources.

The situation that is described in “Chapter Five: Russia, The Military Balance” is slightly less pessimistic. That said, the reading still suggests that Russia faces significant and immediate challenges in terms of its military. The chapter suggests that there are two main challenges facing the Russian military in the short-term future. The first challenge is to “develop a new generation of armaments with export prospects” and the second challenge is to “develop new export markets, as several important existing export markets, notably China and India seek to increase their own arms manufacturing abilities” (Chapter Five, 191). Also suggested in the reading is the idea that Russia experiment with the policy of importing the necessary modernization technologies for their armaments. this is a radical break from the traditional policy held by Russia to manufacture its own armaments.

the idea that Russia should try address the current challenge faced by its military through global manufacturing and trade is a sound propsed solution that also addresses the ssue of the financial crisis. The fact that Russia, despite the global economic crash continues to be the second largest arms dealer in the world, according to the reading, means that Russia, as a nation, holds the capacity to restore its economy partially through the selling of arms to other countries. Russia could then, in turn, design or develop new modern armaments for its own military. keeping in mind that the main difficulty faced the Russian military at the present time is one of funding, then the idea of manufacturing and trade are self-evidently the right strategy toward reversing the current financial crisis.

The reading also discusses the challenges noted with the practice of conscription in the Russian military. the idea that conscription would increase and therfore bolster up the sagging ranks of troops in the Russian military is at odds with the deep cuts in ground troops indicated by Serdyukov. However, Russian military planners now face a problem in terms of the decreasing of the Russian population in general. According to Chapter Five, “the overall resident population of Russia fell to 142.9 million, from the 145.2 million in 2002, a drop of just over 1.5 %” (Chapter 5, 184.) This is a highly significant factor in terms of the future status of the Russian military because the continuing drop in population adds a manpower shortage to go along with the economic impoverishment that has already eroded the Russian military.

The readings show that the current state of the Russian military is volatile. the military in Russia is in radical transition, both in terms of planned and engineered reforms and in terms of unsought erosion and corruption. The transformation of the military is impacted by the role of leadership both in the military administration and in the political hierarchy. According to the information supplied by the readings, Russia’s military is currently facing challenges that its current leadership is unable to meet. Although there has been movement toward reform in Russia and the potential for real solutions to the current crisis exists, the readings suggest a pessimistic view of the likely evolution of the situation, at least in terms of short-range developments.

Works Cited

Baev, Pavel, K. “Military Reform Against Heavy Odds” (2012): Chapter Five: Russia, The Military Balance, 112:1, 183-204