Russia’s Eurasian past, present and future: rival international societies and Moscow’s place in the post-cold war world

The failure of post-Soviet Russia to integrate into the West became

evident with the 2014 Ukraine crisis, leading Moscow to accelerate

its declared “pivot to the East”. However, the increased dependence

on China carries its own risks, such as the danger of becoming

Beijing’s junior partner. For an erstwhile superpower that

continues to declare and prize its autonomy in international

affairs, this is a particularly unappealing prospect. Thus, it remains

to be seen whether a genuinely balanced partnership can exist

between both countries. This article uses insights from Adam

Watson’s pendulum theory to explore Russia’s post-2014 Eurasian

predicament. We argue that the rapid rightward swing of the

pendulum in the Euro-Atlantic order following the end of the Cold

War has proven indigestible for Moscow. The article then moves

to discuss the Sino-Russian relationship in the context of the

emerging Eurasian space. It concludes that the growing

disillusionment of Russian leaders with the West since the 2000s,

along with the normative convergence between Moscow and

Beijing, has led to a closer partnership between the two. Yet the

partnership is also riddled with a number of insecurities on

Moscow’s side that could undermine the long-term prospects for

cooperation between Russia and China.