Book Launch: Russian Imperialism Revisited – From Disengagement to Hegemony

Speakers:

Dr Domitilla Sagramoso is a Lecturer in Security and Development at the Department of War Studies

Dr Sam Greene is Reader in Russian politics and Director of the Russia Institute at King’s College London.

The former Soviet space is once again becoming a place of conflict and instability, with the full-scale war in Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan, demonstrations flaring up in Belarus and instabilities in Kyrgyzstan. Join the launch of Domitilla Sagramoso's new book, Russian Imperialism Revisited, which offers a rigorous and objective analysis of Russia’s policies towards its ‘Near Abroad’ in a variety of relevant fields of bilateral and multilateral inter-action, including energy, trade, military assistance, alliance formation and conflict management. Dr Sagramoso will share fascinating insights from her book into Russia’s actions in its closest neighbourhood, which offers guidance to decision-makers in the West wrestling with increasing tensions in Western-Russian relations.

While not denying the Kremlin’s assertive role in the former Soviet space, the book challenges the assumption that Russia has always intended to restore an informal empire over its ‘Near Abroad’. Rather, it argues that Russia’s policies are much more complex, multi-faceted, and often more incoherent than is often assumed. Russia’s actions reflect a combination of legitimate state interests, enduring Soviet legacies, and genuine concerns over events unfolding along Russia’s borders. The book also shows that, at times, Great-Power nostalgia and difficulties on the part of Russians to discard their imperial legacy also shape Moscow’s behaviour towards former Soviet states – a phenomenon that has become especially prominent during the last two terms of Vladimir Putin’s presidency.

This event is taking place on Zoom. Pease click here to register for your place. 

Bios

Dr Domitilla Sagramoso is a Lecturer in Security and Development at the Department of War Studies. She is an expert on security and conflict in Russia and Eurasia, and on Islamist radicalisation in the Russian North Caucasus. She has written extensively on terrorism and jihadist violence in the Russian North Caucasus. Her latest publication Russian Imperialism Revisited: From Disengagement to Hegemony was published by Routledge in July 2020 is based on her PhD and 8 years of additional research.

Dr Samuel Greene is a Reader in Russian politics and Director of the Russia Institute at King’s College London. Prior to this, he lived and worked in Moscow for 13 years, most recently as director of the Centre for the Study of New Media & Society at the New Economic School, and as deputy director of the Carnegie Moscow Center. His most recent book, co-authored with Graeme Robertson, is Putin v the People: The Perilous Politics of a Divided Russia, published in 2019 by Yale University Press.