War as an Inevitable Factor of Change

The Impact of Neo- -Eurasianist Geopolitics on the Dynamics of Russia’s Security Policy after 1991

Abstrakt

Russian neo-Eurasianism is currently considered to be the most influential political doctrine in Russia, actively influencing its foreign and security policy. It is also suspected to have indirectly triggered the Kremlin’s decision to launch a war in Ukraine. However, the direction of this influence is not clear; therefore, the aim of the article is to examine to what extent the determinants of Russia’s national security policy are consistent with the most representative elements of the neo-Eurasianist doctrine. Thus, the reasoning in this study is based on the analysis of issues such as the historical and institutional process of rapprochement between neo-Eurasianists and the Kremlin, the dominant position of geopolitics in contemporary Eurasian thought, the neo-Eurasianist understanding of war, the perception of the enemy, as well as potential allies, and the crucial position of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict as a result and trigger for modifications in the doctrine. An analysis of the major individual components of Eurasianism, as well as the content of key policy documents and statements on Russia’s security issues, leads to ambiguous conclusions. On the one hand, it is impossible to clearly identify a real causal relationship between Eurasianist geopolitics and the direction of development in Russian security policy, but on the other, there is a noticeable convergence between the Eurasianist doctrine and the evolution of Russia’s security policy and her international behaviours.