Текст мого виступу на конференції у Варшаві. Може хтось впаде в екстазі. IDEALISM REBORN: FOREIGN POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION THROUGH THE LENS OF THE CRISIS IN UKRAINE The crisis in Ukraine, turbulent events in the Middle East (proclamation of the Islamic State) revived the necessity for rethinking contemporary international relations and behavior of its specific actors. It especially concerns the European Union as influential and special player on the world arena. It seems that crisis in Ukraine highlighted limitations of the realist approach and its preoccupation with the “balance of power” and “national interest” concepts as well as neorealist belief in structural constraints determining the nature of international relations. Contemporary international politics also (even above all) implies interactions between its players in possession of critically divergent models of foreign policy defined by variety in motives of behavior. Hence, heterogeneous nature of the players, models of foreign policy, its norms and rules mentioned above turned into influential feature of the modern international relations. These differences under the conditions of absence of authority empowered to introduce certain norms of behavior put the probability of establishing universal global world order (as the Versailles balance of power system or the ideological bipolarity during the Cold War) under doubt. The imperial behavior of Putin’s Russia which most blunt demonstrations were the aggression against Georgia as well as far more sophisticated and well-organized aggression against Ukraine, expose not only potential but also vulnerabilities of the EU foreign policy (meaning actions pursued by this peculiar player in the foreign policy domain, however, their detailed elaboration is not the subject of the presentation). In the first place, line of behavior designed in Brussels lacks adequate evaluation of the essence of Kremlin’s actions (above all its key motives). To our opinion, it can be understood as the combination of imperial missionary vision as well as most brutal and cynical tools of realpolitik with its outdated thinking through the categories of power and spheres of influence. In addition, Putin’s world view are greatly influenced by the Soviet-style upbringing, KGB career, the so-called career of “grey mediocrity”. The decision-maker with such a background is deprived of thinking strategically, his vision and understanding of the foreign policy line of behavior is perverted. Idea and strategy are replaced by symbols and primitive stereotypes, nostalgic feelings of the Glorious Imperial Past, of Russia’s grandeur as a necessary condition of the personal greatness and dreams of “leaving footprint in history of Mankind”. While explaining Russia’s behavior we should take into account Joseph Nye’s thesis about Russia being not only a revisionist power but also a declining power. Putin’s authoritarianism, decline of Russia’s significance as a societal model adds irrational understanding of national interest and capabilities, forms and means of their protection to this highly explosive combination. It seems that the logic laid out in George Kennan’s classical work “Sources of the Soviet Conduct” receives a new reading. The same logic should be applied for analysis of “Sources of the European Conduct” meaning that behavior of the international relations actor is determined by the nature of society being formed throughout history. Secondly, crisis in Ukraine aggravated long-existing problem of vulnerability of the unified Europe project that envisions harmonious combination of ideals and interests. Depending on the epoch and circumstances we witnessed various combinations of these two factors. Therefore, we should understand that international and European security will collapse in absence of unified actions by the democratic countries, invitation to this group of the new members willing to undertake necessary reforms and even experience painful transformations for the sake of the idea of democratic Europe. “The Revolution of Dignity”, abandoning Russia’s shadow, joining the “democratic camp” not only serves Ukraine’s interests but also European standards of international security. Apart from this, the core component of the European Union’s influence on the world politics is the soft power, in other words, attractiveness of the European integration model. Pragmatic motives (collective as well as national) are essential elements of its policy, however, they are not enough to ensure consolidation of Europe, effective and successful implementation of its objectives on the world stage. For instance, energy security, in case of turning into the most critical issue for the EU, will easily become threat to mere existence of the “Unified Europe” project, European security and security of its members in particular. Excessive influence of the “energy issue” already caused negative consequences for Brussels’ capacity to promote resolving Ukrainian-Russian conflict and compel Moscow to observing and respecting the international norms. The Crisis in Ukraine and the Islamic State are not by chance considered as the most dangerous threats for the West and Europe. Not occasionally Unified Europe does not possess articulate and clear strategy. Both phenomena should be perceived not only as the challenge to the world order, they are challenging the very foundations of the liberal world order that owes its name to a specific system of values. I would like to turn your attention to the strikingly similar feature of the above-mentioned events. The rows of Islamic State are filled not in the last turn by extremists from the EU countries that puts under doubt the whole existence of the European values. In the second instance, EU representatives were emphatically advising to search for a compromise with the Yanukovich regime during negotiations with the democratic opposition in February 2014, bringing as the argument that otherwise “you will all lose (die)”. The pragmatic vision of the European leaders was contrasting with the “value madness’ of Maidan that made possible the Yanukovich regime deposition. To take into consideration everything mentioned above, the successful future of the “European project” and effective defense of collective and national interests including effective resolution of the crisis in Ukraine will definitely strengthen the democratic camp of nations (and thus the European security). At the same time, we advice to pay closer attention to the importance of idealist component in foreign policy of the European Union and transformation of the European values into its system-generating factor.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 14:55:19 +0000
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