Russia and the New World Disorder: the role of the war against Ukraine

Drinks with Mark Edele

Hosted by Prof Vin Massaro

We are delighted to welcome Mark Edele, inaugural Hansen Professor in History and Head of the History Program at the University of Melbourne to Melbourne Forum.

In 2022, in a bid to assert its desired status as a great power, Russia went to war against Ukraine. Status anxiety of the former hegemony had been a long-standing problem in the post-soviet space. Russia’s ruling elites and much of society at large never accepted the relegation, in 1989-1991, of their country from one of the superpowers to a middle power with, at best, regional reach. Since 2000, Vladimir Putin, buoyed by petrodollars, had set about to restore what he saw as Russia’s historical role as one of the major powers of the world. His wars in Chechnya (1999-2009), Georgia (2008), Ukraine (from 2014), and Syria (2015-2024) were some of the “hard power” prongs of this offensive. The “soft-power” equivalents included an international disinformation campaign as well as a charm offensive under the dual banners of the “Russian world” (mobilising Russian culture and its attractions to both the Russian diaspora and many non-Russians) and “decolonisation” (drawing on the historical credit many in the Global South gave Russia as the successor of the Soviet Union for the latter's support during the Cold War). 

During this Drinks event, Mark will assess the extent to which the full-scale invasion of Ukraine from 2022 has put both the hard and the soft power offensives at risk. To what extent has this war increased Russia’s standing internationally? Has Russia managed to assert its aspiration as a great power or has its functional defeat in Ukraine further reduces its standing? Has this war helped re-shape the international order, as intended, or did it have unintended consequences not in the Kremlin’s favour? What is Russia’s likely role in the new world disorder we confront today?
 

Please join Mark Edele, as he shares his insights into Russia's delegation to middle power in 1989-1991, as they wage an ongoing war on Ukraine to again become a superpower.