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Упрощенная HTML-версия

Author : D. Tsybakov
Candidate of Science (Political Science), Associate Professor, Russian Presidential Academy of National
Economy and Public Administration
THE FORMER SOVIET UNION (FSU) remains a zone fraught
with conflicts on the political map of the world. Political instability
and festering disputes, including territorial disputes and disputes
between political elites, prevail in many countries of the region.
The developments in Ukraine show the realness of bringing into
play the military factor to achieve political objectives. Russia and
Ukraine, whose peoples have a shared common history over many
centuries and who boast close cultural and economic links without
precedent anywhere in the rest of the world, have nearly ended in
the state of an armed conflict.
Very relevant in this context appears to be the search for an answer
to what causes the periodical recurrence of the factor of military-
political conflicts in the immediate vicinity of Russia, a factor, as developments surrounding
Ukraine show, can appreciably destabilize not just the regional but also world political process.
There are solid foundations for possible conflicts in the post-Soviet republics. There is a com-
bination of several factors, each of which is capable to destabilize the FSU region. Hard to re-
solve contradictions between separate clans, ethnic groups and cultures exist at the same locations
and at the same time.
The emergence of paramilitary forces is a graphic indication of the deep-seated cultural, inter-
civilizational, ethno-religious and clan-related differences mentioned above.
The intercultural differences can be put down to the invisible borders dividing the post-Soviet
republics into several segments which do not coincide with the official borders.
In the republics with vestiges of patriarchal lifestyles, above all in Central Asia and Transcaucasus,
potentials for conflict vary mostly with the intensity of tensions between tribes and clansy All
these republics are in fact a patchwork of culturally and geographically diverse regions which
presupposes tough infighting for dominance.
Therefore, sources of military and political conflicts in the post-Soviet republics should be looked
for in the specifics of the acquisition of sovereignty by regional states which was accompanied
by armed conflicts. In the absence of national political governance traditions, the dominant
factor in international relations in this space was and is armed violence.
In the end, let me say that possibilities for conflicts in the FSU tend to hang on and replicate.
The clash of interests of the world powers based on hidden geopolitical motives is supplemented
with conflicts on national and sub-national levels.
Электронное приложение к журналу «
Международная жизнь
»
The Possibility of Military-Political Conflicts in the Former Soviet
Union