Encircled Again: Russia’s Military Assesses Threats in a Post-Soviet World
Author(s)
Jackson, William D.
Abstract
This article examines the nature and evolution of threat discourse in the Russian military in the last decade. Particular attention is paid to disjunctures between the military and civilian leaderships’ views on the threats confronting Russia and to the policies required to advance Russia’s security interests. Overall, the policies of Russia’s civilian leadership regarding foreign and security policy in the first decade of the post-Soviet era have appeared at odds with an emergent militant ideology within the military, which draws on geopolitical “science” as well as theories of “civilizational conflict” to describe a world in which Russia is encircled by mounting threats of a long-term and historically objective character. While a new post-Leninist militant world view postulating an inevitably aggressive West as well as a range of other historically determined dangers has not been uniformly embraced within the Russian military, it has appeared to exert growing appeal with elements of the military leadership.
