Open AccessEurope and Russia in the post-coronavirus world
Author(s) -
Timofei V. Bordachev
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
vestnik sankt-peterburgskogo universiteta. meždunarodnye otnošeniâ
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2658-3615
pISSN - 2658-6029
DOI - 10.21638/spbu06.2020.401
Subject(s) - european union , context (archaeology) , political science , balance (ability) , international relations , order (exchange) , resizing , power (physics) , economic system , european integration , pandemic , political economy , cold war , foreign policy , covid-19 , international trade , development economics , sociology , politics , geography , law , economics , medicine , physics , disease , archaeology , finance , quantum mechanics , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , physical medicine and rehabilitation
The article analyzes the interaction between central phenomena of the science of international relations such as the balance of power and international institutions on the example of the development of the European Union (EU) and Russia-EU relations in a changing global context, which was catalyzed by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The change in the balance of power and its significance in the development of institutions of cooperation at the regional and global levels leads, in the author’s opinion, to the necessity to reassess the possibilities of institutional interaction and the stability of institutions as such. After the end of the Cold War, relations between Russia and the EU developed, within the framework of the author’s main theoretical paradigm, as part of attempts to include Russia in the balance of power underlying European integration. Current trends point to a relative decrease of the importance of this problem in the context of realizing the main interests of Russia and the leading EU states, which in the long term may allow them to move towards a more stable common European order. The new order would be less dependent on the actual bilateral relations between Russia and the European Union, but more dependent on the interests of both actors in a wide global environment.