The only comprehensive English-language study of Kaliningrad, this invaluable book explores the history and uncertain fate of the former East Prussia. Once touted as a future Hong Kong, Russia's western-most oblast has become a black hole of social and economic decay. Often overlooked in the West, this exclave is a potential flashpoint in an already unstable region. Richard Krickus, a leading expert on Kaliningrad, fills a crucial gap by tracing its long history of unstable possession, critiquing Russian and Western policy, and mapping out possible futures for the oblast. Visit our website for sample chapters!
The future of Europe's east is open. Can the societies of this vast region become more democratic and secure and integrate into the European mainstream? Or are they destined to become failed, fractured lands of grey mired in the stagnation and turbulence historically characteristic of Europe's borderlands? How and why is Russia seeking to influence these developments, and what is the future of Russia itself? How should the West engage?
Attempting to provide a fully-fledged theory of enclaves and exclaves, A Theory of Enclaves covers a wide scope of regions and territories throughout the world and satisfies the need for a systematic view on enclaves. This book covers 282 enclaves, with a combined population total of approximately three million, but the importance of enclaves is much higher because of their specific status and issues raised for both the mainland states and the surrounding states: Gibraltar was disproportionately large for British-Spanish relations throughout the last three centuries, Kaliningrad managed to cause a major crisis in the EU-Russian relations in 2002-03, Tiny Ceuta and Melilla have caused tensions in Spanish-Moroccan relations for more than three centuries and have recently become visible as conflict points at the EU level, German Buesingen was subject to several complex international treaties between Germany and Switzerland. Rather than viewing each enclave as a unique case, or even as an anomaly, A Theory of Enclaves provides a systematic investigation of enclave-related political and economic issues. Rich on maps and illustrations, A Theory of Enclaves strives to comprise three facets of enclaves' existence: political, economic, and social life.
In sum, by showing how and why local regional disputes quickly develop into global crises through the paired power of historical memory and time-space compression, Near Abroad reshapes our understanding of the current conflict raging in the center of the Eurasian landmass and international politics as a whole.
When thinking about relations between Europe and Russia, International Relations scholars focus on why conflict has replaced cooperation. The "geostrategic debate" excludes the possible coexistence of cooperation and conflict. Tracking the evolution of conflict and cooperation patterns in three zones of contact (Estonia, Kaliningrad, and Moldova) between 1991 and 2016, this edited volume argues that, although the standard narrative remains compelling, local patterns of cooperation and conflict are partly autonomous from the geostrategic level. To account for the coexistence of cooperation and conflict, the first chapter elaborates a theoretical proposition distinguishing fluid, rigid, and disputed symbolic boundaries, which have different impacts on the ground. The subsequent chapters address distinct dimensions of Euro-Russian relations, paying attention to local reality in Estonia, Moldova, Ukraine, or Kaliningrad, different sectors from energy to peoples’ movement, and across institutional contexts such as the EU and NATO. They confirm that the standard narrative holds in most cases, but also that Euro-Russian relations vary in crucial ways according to the interests and representations of actors immersed in specific geopolitical fields. Despite a deterioration of geostrategic relations between Europe and Russia since the end of the Soviet Union, Cooperation and Conflict between Europe and Russia explores the intriguing coexistence of conflict and cooperation at the local level and across sectors and institutions. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal East European Politics.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION The book is a Russian textbook on geopolitics. It systematically and detailed the basics of geopolitics as a science, its theory, history. Covering a wide range of geopolitical schools and beliefs and actual problems. The first time a Russian geopolitical doctrine. An indispensable guide for all those who make decisions in the most important spheres of Russian political life - for politicians, entrepreneurs, economists, bankers, diplomats, analysts, political scientists, and so on. D.
This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to US foreign policy. Bringing together a number of the world's leading experts, the text deals with the rise of America, US foreign policy during and after the Cold War, and the complex issues facing the US since September 11th.
The ability of the United States and Russia to cooperate in Afghanistan represents a solid test of their reset in relations. The author provides the historical background to the Afghanistan Question and assesses current events in the Afghan war with three objectives in mind: 1) to determine whether Russian-American cooperation in Afghanistan has been successful; 2) to identify and evaluate the successes and failures of the counterinsurgency strategy as the transition from U.S. to Afghanistan authority gains traction in the 2011-14 time frame; and 3) to provide conclusions and recommendations bearing on developments in Afghanistan.
