Социологическая наука и социальная практика (Oct 2018)
Positioning of Russian in the World Against a Background of External and Internal Threats in Estimations and Perceptions of the Russians
Abstract
Based on the results of surveillance studies of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, by analyzing the dynamics of public sentiments and expectations of the citizens of the Russian Federation, the author indicates that the focus of public attention in the last year began to shift from the foreign policy agenda to internal economic and internal political processes. At the same time, Russians’ concerns over external threats persist to be almost twice as high as over internal ones because many of the threats, formally external, directly affecting the lives of many Russians, begin to be perceived by them already as purely domestic threats.The first positions in the hierarchy of threats are held by the worsening of health care and education systems, and the sharp decline in the standard of living of a significant part of the population and the chance of Russia being drawn into a new full-scale conflict in Ukraine, which appears in the eyes of society as a projection of growing confrontation with the West, the fears that it will grow into the full-fledged “cold war”. The tense relationships with the leading Western countries of the recent years also put doubts in the significant part of the society as to whether Russia may be considered Europe in the civilizational way. Against the backdrop of the swelling sentiments of anxious uncertainty, both within the country and abroad, the desire of Russians to strengthen the position of our country in the world is growing. At the same time, while assessing its foreign policy prospects in the 21st century, most of our fellow citizens nevertheless speak for realism in foreign policy, considering the most realistic task of Russia becoming one of the most economically developed and politically influential countries in the world, such as Germany, France, Japan, and Great Britain. Moreover, the main prerequisite for Russian returning to the circle of leading world powers is not the expansionist foreign policy, but the solution of the escalated internal political and socio-economic tasks. Only this, in the opinion of the author, will allow it to occupy a proper place in the world community, and for Russians to overcome the fear of the future, which until recently was perceived by many as a conglomerate of rather unclear, and therefore frightening, threats.
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