The Masks of Proteus: Russia, Geopolitical Shift and the New Eurasianism

Despite the growing interest within international relations theory and political geography in critical geopolitics, there has been little engagement – other than from Western perspectives – with the relationship between geopolitics and national identities in Russia. This article examines this relationship by focusing on the emergence of Eurasianism within geopolitical discourse, and the manner in which such representations of Russia as a distinctive Eurasian civilization and power inform geopolitical thinking, particularly in relation to the shift in Russia's foreign policy since around early 1993. The article first explores the emergence of competing geopolitical discourses amongst political opinion‐makers before turning to consider how particular sites –‘the Near Abroad’, ‘Europe’ and ‘Asia’– have been officially reinscripted as part of Russia's understanding of itself as a Eurasian power. The article draws upon the geopolitical writings of prominent Russian theorists and statesmen and Russian government policy statements and documents from 1993 to early 1999.