The European perspective on the global order crisis

The present Russian view of world order is shaped by the way that the Cold War was ended rather than transcended. The Russian leadership under Yeltsin and Putin, with varying degrees of emphasis but with a striking degree of consistency, insisted on Russia's sovereign equality in those communities, which effectively meant their transformation into something rather different by mere dint of Russia's membership. With the disappearance of the USSR and Russia's weakness the platform for a transcendent politics was greatly undermined, leaving the field clear for the 'enlargers' to fill the vacuum. In practice, there was a widespread commitment in the early post-Cold War years to a middle position, the policy of adaptation of the European political and security architecture to a Russia that itself was committed to adaptation. The challenges for Russia were incommensurately compounded by cultural and historical traditions that even questioned Russia's European credentials.