Russia and Europe: geopolitics and geo-economics

 My research on the evolving pattern of relations between Russia and Europe combines geopolitical and geo-economic analyses with security studies. It is generally conducted within PRIO's Euro-SIP led by Ola Tunander.

Key partners in this research are the Carnegie Moscow Center, the Finnish Institute for International Affairs (UPI-FIIA), the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the Netherlands Institute for International Affairs (Clingendael), the Swedish National Defence College.

While some attention is devoted to security debveloments in the Nordic-Baltic area (chapter in the Russia between East and West ed. by Gabriel Gorodetsky, 2003) and in the Black Sea area (workshop in Stockholm, December 2003), a key question addressed in late 2003 was: What sort of 'Great Power' Russia aspires to be and could realistically expects to become? (PONARS Memo 318, Washington: CSIS, December 2003, at http://www.csis.org/ruseura/ponars/policymemos/pm_index.cfm)

The topic that I am pondering at the start of 2004 is the rise of 'siloviki' in Putin's court and the possible consequences of this Bysantine intrigue for Russia's freign and security policy. 

One particular project implemented in mostly 2002 with support from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry is:

Beyond Putin’s Westward Quest