Vol 26, No 1 (2024): Turn to the East

Using the example of the problem of contemporary terrorism, the article raises the question of the need to overcome the dependence of Russian science on the hegemony of the West. In the world in general and in Russia in particular, the period of admiration for the Western concept of liberal democracy and the concepts of globalization, human rights, soft power, civil society, democratic transition, terrorism, hybrid wars, etc., developed by liberal thought, is coming to an end. These theories are increasingly less accepted in as normative, universal, whose implementation necessarily requires Western supervision. These theories, developed during a unique historical process in Western countries, cannot be adequately applied to determine the direction of development of non-Western countries. In this study, we consider the problem of contemporary Islamist terrorism as a concrete example of the need for a critical revision of Western ideas. To do this, we turn to the ideas of a number of Russian authors, as well as Western representatives of postmodernism, neo-Marxism and left-radical thought, who sharply criticize the basic dogmas of Western liberal political science. This allows us to conclude that Islamist terrorism is not the result of the activities of individual radicals or a manifestation of the aggressive nature of Islam, but is reproduced by the conflict system of modern international relations. Thus, Islamist terrorism as a radical form of politicization of Islam is most often a reaction of the Muslim world to Western globalism, to the crisis of a number of Muslim societies as a result of Western intervention. The system-functional approach makes it possible to understand the place and role of Islamist terrorism in contemporary hybrid wars, which the West uses to maintain its global empire. Islamist terrorism can be viewed as an element of a system of hybrid wars. In this system, along with Islamist terrorism, there is an important phenomenon of combating it - anti-terrorism, and also, along with Islamist terrorism as the activity of non-governmental armed groups, there is state terrorism, mainly carried out by Western states.

Against the background of the Ukrainian crisis, and especially the current RussianUkrainian conflict, Russia’s large-scale promotion of the turn to the East strategy has both internal and external motivations. The return of Eurasian ideas to Russia’s foreign policy forms the ideological basis of Russia’s turn to the East strategy, but in practice, this turn is the intensification of Russia’s development of the Far East and Siberia due to the rapid economic growth of the countries of the Asian-Pacific region. In addition, the fierce confrontation between Russia and the West due to the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis is also an important factor in Russia’s promotion of the strategy of turn to the East to improve its passive position in international politics and increase compensation for losses incurred because of sanctions imposed by Western countries.

The withdrawal of US troops and the rapid takeover of Kabul by the Taliban (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation) in Afghanistan in 2021 shocked the world community. Even though the PRC actively opposes international terrorism, which the Taliban movement (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation) is accused of supporting, it has become one of the few countries that have begun to cooperate with the new Afghan regime. In the light of these events, China’s view of the situation in Afghanistan is puzzling, in particular, we are interested in how these events are reported in Chinese press. In this paper, first, we trace the evolution of the PRC’s official position on Afghanistan, and then, using frame analysis, analyze the coverage of the events of 2021 in the PRC by focusing on three authoritative newspapers, Chinese language versions of “People’s Daily”, “Global Times”, and “The Paper”. Our study demonstrates that the Chinese press supports China’s foreign policy in general and its policy in Afghanistan in particular. Stability in Afghanistan and cooperation with the Taliban (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation) on issues of Uighur separatism are important for China’s national security. In the Chinese media, the Taliban (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation) are not presented as accomplices of terrorism, which China is fighting within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization but are described as representatives of the Afghan people who aim to restore the security and stability in the country. When discussing the Taliban (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation) takeover in the Chinese media, the focus is often not on the crimes of the new regime - repression, abuse of power, restriction of rights, but on shortcoming of the US policy. The latter reflects an important discursive practice in the Chinese media, “othering” the United States.

Traditionally, Central Asia is associated with a favorable geographical location and significant natural resources. These factors are of interests for the West, Russia, and China in the region. Meanwhile, the potential of Central Asian countries leaves many questions unanswered, as they face many regional challenges. The aim of the study is to identify the geopolitical and economic potential of the Central Asian countries, as well as to identify the challenges that the states have faced in recent years. A special attention is paid to the water and energy issue, which remains the most pressing problem for the whole region. In the conclusion, the author identified two of them: the persistence of economic difficulties in the development of Central Asian countries, which to a certain extent act as economic competitors, as well as the increased influence of extra- regional actors on the countries of the region.

Due to the aggravation of the global geopolitical confrontation, the relations in the sphere of security issues within the framework of the Russia - China - North Korea triangle get particular importance. The purpose of the study is to analyze the current state and prospects of the strategic defense partnership between Russia, China, and North Korea. The authors used the following methods: a system approach, a method of situational analysis, a comparative method, a method of analyzing the current situation, as well as a method of scenario forecasting. The authors analyzed the relations between Russia and China in the military sphere, Russian-North Korean relations in the security sphere, as well as the role of China and North Korea in ensuring stability in the region. It is concluded that in the current conditions of rising tensions in the AsiaPacific region, primarily on the island of Taiwan and the Korean peninsula, these countries will converge, first, against the triangle USA - Japan - South Korea, often called “Asian NATO”. To conclude, the relations between Russia, China and North Korea will not take the form of a fullfledged military alliance. It is expected that the efforts of military-technical cooperation and the possibility of mutual support in the event of a security threat to one of the countries will be deepened.

Historically, the Republic of Turkey is one of the few states in the Middle East, in a civilizational sense, located between East and West. As time has passed since a number of unsuccessful attempts to integrate into Western institutions and with the beginning of geopolitical changes in the international arena, Turkey has made a “pivot to the East”. Considering the increasing role of the Non-West within the framework of the formation of a polycentric system of international relations, the study of Turkey as one of the key centers of forces of our time, as well as the identification of its characteristics, eastern and western features, is of particular relevance. The purpose of the study is to examine the civilizational characteristics of modern Turkey. By applying civilizational approach, Turkey’s position of a “middle state” was revealed, which has both Western and Eastern features, but is increasingly gravitating towards the non-Western world. At the same time, amid the ideology of “neo-Ottomanism” implemented by the current leadership and the increasing role of the ideological and value factor, Western features are gradually fading away, remaining only in the form of official secularism and stable ties with Western institutions. While the Turkish orientality, along with unofficial islamization, have a clearer image. Turkey develops in progressive-regressive cycles, where the Western cycle is replaced by the Eastern and vice versa. However, the West is systematically ceasing to be a symbol of progress. The authors conclude that the non-Western path of development is the most promising for modern Turkey, however, with the condition that eastern development will not be moderated by Islamist circles and supporters of political Islam.

The study is devoted to the cognitive analysis of the current state of the Eurasian Economic Commission, which is the main institution of integration of the economies of the Western Eurasia. Deconstruction of the European principle of the “four freedoms” that was laid down in the basis of the EAEU allows authors to conclude that further implementation of the latter will lead to the reproduction of the EU’s weaknesses that have become obvious today. Moreover, it will lead to internal conflicts, primarily between corporations, which will be mainly Russian, and the member states. The predictable result will be a decrease in the functionality of the Eurasian Union, which has already taken noticeable forms. It produces the obvious risks of turning of this important negotiating platform into an artifact that does not meet the challenges that arose with the beginning of Russia’s Special military operation. The authors see a way out in «balancing» the principle of «four freedoms», which de facto leads to redistribution of resources in favor of corporations, with the principle of security. The extrapolation of latter to the economic sphere can allow not only to strengthen the regulatory role of states, but also to move to the creation of a production circuit within the Eurasian Economic Union based on the common system of division of labor. In their theoretical constructions, the authors appeal to the successful experience of China, which managed to introduce a system of moral and ethical restrictions for business, and thereby managed to make profitable a «long» investment focused not on the consumption of an individual, but on the prosperity of society as a whole.

The article focuses on how Turkey and Pan-Turkish ideology influenced the development of new national identities in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and the results of this influence. The theoretical basis of this study lies in the concept of transnational political spaces (ethno-worlds), which form new identities due to the spread of cultural patterns. The practical basis of this study entails a synthesis of several sociological methods: content analysis of data published from January 2, 2022, to July 31, 2023, collected according to specified criteria; surveys in the form of an electronic questionnaire; and a set of focused group and expert interviews attended by citizens of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. The results showed that “soft power” in both countries influences the field of those policies that are crucial for the development of new identities: education, language, memory, symbology, etc. The mechanisms for promoting identity politics in Turkic countries are the main strength of the formation process in this ethno-world. The results of the study demonstrate educational programs to be the most effective tool, whose status allows the returned youth to become a part of a new elite in their countries, as well as emissaries of Pan-Turkist ideas. Based on the content analysis data, it can be noted that though TurkishKazakh and Turkish-Turkmen relations are actively and positively developing, primarily in the economic sphere, they still have certain contradictions. Though Pan-Turkish ideas and Turkish cultural patterns are presented in the information agendas of the analyzed countries, they are not their trends.