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Russian space policy and identity: visionary or reactionary?
Södertörn University, School of Social Sciences, Political Science.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1526-0521
Södertörn University, School of Social Sciences, Political Science.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1278-3941
2021 (English)In: Journal of International Relations and Development, ISSN 1408-6980, E-ISSN 1581-1980, Vol. 24, no 2, p. 381-407Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Why is there a lack of grand, forward-looking vision in contemporary Russian space policy? Our study reveals nothing that compares with either ambitious Soviet goals or contemporary American goals of being first, reaching farthest, and being a dominant power in space; nor are there any clear explanations available of what goals Russia pursues in space. Notwithstanding the celebrational rhetoric on Russia being an ‘acknowledged leader’ which recurrently refers to its superpower past, the substance of contemporary Russian space policy is not focused on hegemony but rather on reaching equal status, catching up, being competitive, and strengthening independent access to space. Whether motivated by a shift to a less ambitious great power identity seeking equal status rather than dominance or departing from a perception of inferiority in comparison with the West, Russian space policy simultaneously seeks lasting space cooperation with the US and criticises the US for militarisation of space. This may seem paradoxical from a geopolitical perspective, but it makes sense from an identity perspective; for better or worse, the US remains Russia’s ‘significant other’ in space.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. Vol. 24, no 2, p. 381-407
Keywords [en]
Cosmos, Great power, Militarisation, Roscosmos, Soviet legacy, Space
National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Politics, Economy and the Organization of Society; Baltic and East European studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-41654DOI: 10.1057/s41268-020-00195-8ISI: 000551358000001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85088398655OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-41654DiVA, id: diva2:1456259
Part of project
Russia in Space: Continuity and Change in Russian Space Policy, The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies
Funder
The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, 65/2017Available from: 2020-08-03 Created: 2020-08-03 Last updated: 2023-04-12Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. After Space Utopia: Post-Soviet Russia and Futures in Space
Open this publication in new window or tab >>After Space Utopia: Post-Soviet Russia and Futures in Space
2023 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Alternative title[sv]
Efter rymdutopin : Postsovjetiska Ryssland och framtider i rymden
Abstract [en]

Since the early 2000s, new projects of space expansionism have emerged, including the commercial-, military-driven and scientific projects to colonize the Moon and Mars. The new space expansionism followed a period of comparatively lower attention to space in international politics, and it is sometimes called the New Space Race by analogy to the 20th century Space Race between the USSR and the US. With the first Space Race, outer space became explicitly politicized and served as a locus of futuristic utopian social and political imagination, not least in the USSR and the socialist bloc. In this dissertation, I investigate the possible ways of constructing alternative social and political futures in and through space in post-Soviet Russia. Drawing theoretically on postcolonial critique of space expansionism, the concepts of biopolitical production and of assemblage, and methodologically on narrative analysis, I argue that social and political futurism in and through space today presupposes changing attitudes to space and time in a way that challenges analyses from the angles of political science and IR. In this thesis, I highlight socially and politically futuristic practices which exist on the margins of political power and have greater autonomy from official discourse, arguing for the understanding of utopia in postmodernity as an assemblage.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Huddinge: Södertörns högskola, 2023. p. 210
Series
Södertörn Doctoral Dissertations, ISSN 1652-7399 ; 214
Keywords
space, Russia, utopia, postcolonialism, assemblage
National Category
Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies)
Research subject
Politics, Economy and the Organization of Society; Baltic and East European studies
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-51323 (URN)978-91-89504-27-1 (ISBN)978-91-89504-28-8 (ISBN)
Public defence
2023-05-12, MA624, Alfred Nobels allé 7, Huddinge, 10:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Funder
The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, 65/2017
Available from: 2023-04-20 Created: 2023-04-12 Last updated: 2023-12-12Bibliographically approved

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Eriksson, JohanPrivalov, Roman

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