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Russia Turns East

Putinism and the Making of a New Second World

William H. Thornton is a Professor of globalization and cultural studies at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. [email: songokt.hornton{at}msa.hinet.net]

Songok Han Thornton

Songok Han Thornton is a Research Assistant Professor of political science at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. [email: sohan{at}Mail.ncku.edu.tw]

As the crucial Eurasian swing state, Russia is fast emerging as the twenty-first century ‘decider’. Early globalists took it as a foregone conclusion that Russia would swing toward the West. But increasingly it has ‘turned East’, striking a fate-ful alliance with China and other authoritarian regimes by way of a resuscitated ‘Second World’. By buttressing Putinism, globalization is helping to perform what amounts to a democratic abortion. Yet these policies are not set in stone. This study holds that another globalization is possible, and another Russia as well. To prevent the consolidation of a new Second World, every effort must be made to convince Russian leaders that democracy, far from being Russia's nemesis, could be its best geopolitical ally.

Key Words: Putinism • Second World • Kremlinism • Second Way • managed democracy • authoritarian capitalism

Journal of Developing Societies, Vol. 24, No. 4, 439-463 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0169796X0902400402


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