scholarly journals A Russian National Idea and the International System

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 75-96
Author(s):  
J. Willerton ◽  
Mihail Beznosov ◽  
M. Carrier
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International System ◽  
First Century ◽  
Eastern Orthodoxy ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Social Welfare System ◽  
Policy Program ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin and his governing team have operated out of a weltanschauung that offers a twenty first century Russian national idea that animates the Russian federal government’s post-1999 policy program. This article explores the Russian national idea, illuminating the syndrome of pillars that comprise it, and tying the national idea to the Putin government’s policy program. We apply an interdisciplinary case study approach, relying on a modified process tracing analysis, to identify the national idea and its direct relevance to policy making. The notion of a Russian national idea has long preoccupied Russian intellectuals and even officials, and we focus on Vladimir Putin’s thinking and the Putin team’s actions as a national idea emerged and drives policies. Putin’s Russian national idea is comprised of four pillars, the consolidated state, a functioning market economy, a re-established social welfare system, and Russia’s return as a Eurasian leader. We understand these four pillars as constituting a syndrome, signifying that these four pillars reinforce one another. In this article, we give attention to the fourth, international, pillar of the twenty first century national idea. We consider the Russian Federation’s return as a natural Eurasian leader, with a longer-term, historical notion of foreign policy honor that entails Russia’s continued long-term commitment to Eastern Slavs and Eastern Orthodoxy. We link the notion of national honor with a contemporary consideration of a so-called Russian civilization that is relevant to both domestic and foreign policy interests. We highlight various policies, domestic and foreign, that are inherently related to this Russian national idea, and while we acknowledge a complex array of policy successes and dilemmas, we posit an overall Russian Federation programmatic advance. The theoretical significance of our article rests with its exploration of a regime’s worldview and programmatic priorities in advancing policies intended to advance the society it governs. This article is guided by the judgment that the Russian national idea, as articulated by Putin and as applied in policies by the Putin team, merits our serious attention.

Finding Faith in Foreign Policy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregorio Bettiza
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
International System ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
First Century ◽  
Sacred Landscapes ◽  
Muslim Politics ◽  
The Cold War

Since the end of the Cold War, religion has been systematically brought to the fore of American foreign policy. US foreign policymakers have been increasingly tasked with promoting religious freedom globally, delivering humanitarian and development aid abroad through faith-based channels, pacifying Muslim politics and reforming Islamic theologies in the context of fighting terrorism, and engaging religious actors to solve multiple conflicts and crises around the world. Across a range of different domains, religion has progressively become an explicit and organized subject and object of US foreign policy in ways that were unimaginable just a few decades ago. If God was supposed to be vanquished by the forces of modernity and secularization, why has the United States increasingly sought to understand and manage religion abroad? In what ways have the boundaries between faith and state been redefined as religion has become operationalized in American foreign policy? What kind of world order is emerging in the twenty-first century as the most powerful state in the international system has come to intervene in sustained and systematic ways in sacred landscapes around the globe? This book addresses these questions by developing an original theoretical framework and drawing upon extensive empirical research and interviews. It argues that American foreign policy and religious forces have become ever more inextricably entangled in an age witnessing a global resurgence of religion and the emergence of a postsecular world society.

The New Baloch Militancy: Drivers and Dynamics

2021 ◽  
pp. 097492842110272
Author(s):  
Shakoor Ahmad Wani
Keyword(s):  
Resource Sharing ◽  
First Century ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Distinctive Character ◽  
Armed Struggle ◽  
Twenty First Century

Since the early 2000, Balochistan is yet again embroiled in a cobweb of violence after a hiatus of more than two decades. The Baloch nationalist militancy began to reinvigorate after the seizure of power by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999. Musharraf marginalised the moderate Baloch nationalists and repressed dissident voices. The differences over power and resource sharing escalated quickly into a full-blown armed struggle once Musharraf used indiscriminate force to subdue opposition against his regime. This article examines the proximate and long-term structural factors that led to the resurgence of armed militancy at the turn of the twenty-first century. It analyses the new drivers and dynamics of the present conflict that make it more virulent and lend it a distinctive character.

scholarly journals The Impact of Climate Change on the Water Balance of Oil Sands Reclamation Covers and Natural Soil Profiles

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 1731-1752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Shahabul Alam ◽  
S. Lee Barbour ◽  
Amin Elshorbagy ◽  
Mingbin Huang
Keyword(s):  
Oil Sands ◽  
Weather Generator ◽  
First Century ◽  
Soil Profiles ◽  
Percentage Increase ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Historical Climate ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The design of reclamation soil covers at oil sands mines in northern Alberta, Canada, has been conventionally based on the calibration of soil–vegetation–atmosphere transfer (SVAT) models against field monitoring observations collected over several years, followed by simulations of long-term performance using historical climate data. This paper evaluates the long-term water balances for reclamation covers on two oil sands landforms and three natural coarse-textured forest soil profiles using both historical climate data and future climate projections. Twenty-first century daily precipitation and temperature data from CanESM2 were downscaled based on three representative concentration pathways (RCPs) employing a stochastic weather generator [Long Ashton Research Station Weather Generator (LARS-WG)]. Relative humidity, wind speed, and net radiation were downscaled using the delta change method. Downscaled precipitation and estimated potential evapotranspiration were used as inputs to simulate soil water dynamics using physically based models. Probability distributions of growing season (April–October) actual evapotranspiration (AET) and net percolation (NP) for the baseline and future periods show that AET and NP at all sites are expected to increase throughout the twenty-first century regardless of RCP, time period, and soil profile. Greater increases in AET and NP are projected toward the end of the twenty-first century. The increases in future NP at the two reclamation covers are larger (as a percentage increase) than at most of the natural sites. Increases in NP will result in greater water yield to surface water and may accelerate the rate at which chemical constituents contained within mine waste are released to downstream receptors, suggesting these potential changes need to be considered in mine closure designs.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document