Area Studies in Russia and the Challenges of the Polycentric World

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the state of contemporary Russian area studies and their research field in the conditions of high demand for comprehensive and multifaceted approach. The author deliberates on the problem of new normality in connection with the phenomenon of partial deglobalisation. He analyses the interplay between the politics of geopolitisation of relations among leading powers and the institution of nation-state. Also, the topics of foreign interference, resilience and deep state are dwelt upon. Besides, the research looks into an issue of primary and secondary nature of the political and the economical in international relations. The significant part of the work covers the role of civilisations in area studies. The author supports the thesis that civilisational studies occupy a place between area and global studies. At the same time, he questions the validity of the application of civilisational approach to the daily politics in light of its ambivalences and numerous assumptions. Typologically, the notion of border, or multi-composite, civilisation is discussed. The article pays a significant attention to the discourse of juxtaposition of European and Russian civilisations and also raises the problems of conceptual substance of state-civilisation and criteria of historical development. The conclusion is drawn that civilisations’ spaces will continue to be porous and changeable and exposed both to augmentation and fragmentation.