Charles E. Ziegler - Böcker

Russia in the Pacific approaches the puzzle of why Russia, with much of its huge territory straddling Asia, has not had more success in establishing a position as a great power in the Asia Pacific. Russian leaders from Nicholas II in the late nineteenth century to Vladimir Putin in the twenty-first have periodically advanced policies to gain territory or influence, secure buffer zones in the region, develop the sparsely populated Far East and protect it against foreign intervention, and integrate into the regional economy, but have met with only partial success. Structural factors constraining Russian regional aspirations include geographic challenges, demographic imbalances, and persistent low levels of economic development. Institutional factors--the hyper-centralized, secretive character of Russian foreign policy making, bureaucratic competition, and dominance of a single powerful executive-also have been critical in shaping Russian foreign policy toward the Pacific. The persistence of certain patterns in Russia's Asia policy suggest even the most powerful autocrat faces constraints. Starting with Russian imperial expansion in the late nineteenth century, Charles E. Ziegler considers the impact of the Russo-Japanese War on late tsarist Russian autocracy and assesses Soviet Asian initiatives under Stalin and his successors during the Cold War. He examines the diplomatic, economic and military dimensions of Vladimir Putin's pivot toward the Asia Pacific. His conceptual approach is analytically eclectic, combining realism's focus on military and economic dimensions of power with a constructivist attention to domestic politics, culture, and questions of national identity.

The security environment of Northeast Asia is increasingly affected by developments in the Russian Far East, including a longstanding economic crisis, changes in Russia's military policies, and the devolution of power to regional governments. Continuing poverty in the Russian Far East, the pervasiveness of organized crime, and weak state authority have provided a fertile breeding ground for illicit activities that may prove harmful to Russia's Pacific neighbors. Hopes that resource development and integration into the Asia-Pacific economy would fuel regional recovery have been frustrated by poor infrastructure, a difficult business environment, and Russian concerns about becoming a "resource appendage" to the developed world. Russia's Far East: A Region at Risk comprehensively assesses the relationships among the economic collapse of the region; the post-Cold War role of Asia in Russia’s security policy; trends in Russia’s center-regional relations that impact tax collection, resource extraction, the military, and other issues; Russia's ability to manage potential areas of conflict like the maintenance of the nuclear fleet, nuclear dumping of radioactive materials in the Sea of Japan, and illegal migration from China; and the shifting balance of power in Asia. An interdisciplinary team of specialists from the United States, Russia, China, Japan, and Korea discuss the historical, political, and economic contexts, as well as the strategic implications, of these developments. The contributors address the vital questions of how to achieve a stable political order in the Russian Far East, how to develop economic growth in the region, and how to promote efforts to link Russia and the Asia-Pacific powers into a cooperative framework of diplomatic relations.

An updated edition of the acclaimed history of Russia, this new volume includes a wealth of material on events of the last decade.When first published, Charles Ziegler's The History of Russia was acclaimed as a source of information not easily found elsewhere, and as "clear, balanced, and insightful," by Rajan Menon of Lehigh University. Now Ziegler's remarkable volume returns, fully updated to be the work of choice for readers looking for an introduction to the history of the world's largest country.The History of Russia: Second Edition moves from the 10th-century founding of Kievan Rus to the czars to the Communist Era to the present, with particular emphasis on the fall of the Soviet Union and the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Vladimir Putin. In addition to a new chapter on the tumultuous last decade, this edition features an updated introduction and an expanded chapter on the Yeltsin Era.

In this book Charles Ziegler develops the concept of learning in foreign policy by exploring the link between Mikhail Gorbachev's domestic reforms and the radical transformation of Soviet relations with North-east Asia in the 1980s. He argues that, although international factors may have played a role, it was pressures for domestic change, and economic reform in particular, which had the greatest impact on Soviet thinking. The history of Soviet relations with North-east Asia is briefly traced, highlighting the extent to which ideology impeded foreign policy learning under Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev. The author then turns to Gorbachev's determined efforts to reverse thirty years of Sino-Soviet hostility, his mixed record on Soviet-Japanese relations, the turnaround in Soviet policy toward South Korea, and changing Soviet national security interests in the Far East and Western Pacific.

The five Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan constitute an area of increasing importance in global politics. The region currently serves as the main route for transporting American and NATO supplies and personnel into Afghanistan. Its Turkic Muslim peoples share ethnic and religious roots with China's Uighurs in neighboring Xinjiang, where some Uighurs have connections to the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, fueling Beijing's already acute fears of terrorism and separatism.Perhaps most importantly, the Caspian basin holds immense reserves of oil and natural gas. Countries rich in hydrocarbons -- like Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan -- can benefit greatly from this wealth, but often they must rely on foreign companies (usually backed by foreign governments) to develop these resources. Revolts in Kyrgyzstan (in 2005 and 2010) and Uzbekistan (in 2005); Tajikistan's civil war (in the 1990s); and continued terrorist incidents (2010--2011), strikes, and suicide bombings in Kazakhstan (in 2011) have contributed to concerns about stability in the region.In C ivil Society and Politics in Central Asia, a prominent group of scholars assesses both the area's manifold problems and its emerging potential, examining the often uneasy relationship between its states and the societies they govern. A meticulously in-depth study, the volume demonstrates the fascinating cultural complexity and diversity of Central Asia. Small, landlocked, and surrounded by larger powers, Central Asian nations have become adept at playing their neighbors against each other in order to maximize their own abilities to maneuver. The essays in this book look beyond the surface of Central Asian politics to discover the forces that are working for political change and continuity in this critical region of the world.

An updated edition of the acclaimed history of Russia, this new volume includes a wealth of material on events of the last decade.When first published, Charles Ziegler's The History of Russia was acclaimed as a source of information not easily found elsewhere, and as "clear, balanced, and insightful," by Rajan Menon of Lehigh University. Now Ziegler's remarkable volume returns, fully updated to be the work of choice for readers looking for an introduction to the history of the world's largest country.The History of Russia: Second Edition moves from the 10th-century founding of Kievan Rus to the czars to the Communist Era to the present, with particular emphasis on the fall of the Soviet Union and the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Vladimir Putin. In addition to a new chapter on the tumultuous last decade, this edition features an updated introduction and an expanded chapter on the Yeltsin Era.