DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN AMERICAN AND RUSSIAN STRATEGIC LEADERS IN PURSUANCE OF NATIONAL INTERESTS
 ELVIRA SHEKUNTSStudent of Russian-Armenian University, YEREVAN  Throughout history the strategic leaders standing at the helm of American grand strategy have been consistently pursuing national policy greatly influenced by economic interests. In contrast, Russia has been both blessed and cursed to have sporadic charismatic leaders, who have been visionaries to guide the change yet lacked astute disciples. This imbalance has resulted in differing power USA and Russia are wielding in the modern era. The U.S. has been running and continues to run the world for the better part of last two centuries. The main reason of it is that this country has and has always had its own long-term policy with strong economy prospects and potential for global leadership. To understand the reason of its strength better, let me introduce some historical facts and, undoubtedly, every history has its own heroes – in this case – presidents.  The US presidents were different with different and sometimes controversial points of view and there political methods, but in all this diversity, there is one similarity – the US presidents had the same goal - to make their country a superpower, which would absorb and subjugate other weaker powers in the world.So how you choose the best and the worst foreign policy president depends in large measure on what values form your vision of what a good foreign policy looks like. If you are a foreign policy idealist, Wilson would seem pretty good; a foreign policy realist you might cast a vote for George H.W. Bush 1 or even Richard Nixon. If you prefer to talk about, presidents tough Harry Truman might be your man; If you prefer more modest and less partisan figure Dwight Eisenhower might float your boat.  There is a list of 5 best US presidents, including J.Kennedy (let's not forget crisis in Vietnam), Ronald Reagan (with his launch of race of weapons), G.H.W. Bush (with his crisis in Iraq), D. Eisenhower (crisis in Taiwan). But as for me the Gold Standard is Franklin Roosevelt with his peaceful and liberal plans, which he couldn't implement because of health problems.Now I will try to compare this way of policy – strong long-term policy of the US and the policy of Russian Federation. The main difference of these two greatest countries is that during all its history Russia and Russians loved monarchs – strong, charismatic leaders from the first one – Rurik, who governed since 862, then Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, J.Stalin to current “monarch” –Vladimir Putin.  With a new Russian leader there were new principles and goals, no one wanted to create a stable, I emphasize, STABLE , LONG-TERM line of domestic and foreign policy. That's why I include there my own phrase “Spirit of Tsarism”.Maybe today, we can claim that the US is stronger and their potential for global leadership still rests on the USA based on their economy. But let's not forget that as a sovereign state, the US has existed since 1776 while the Russian Federation, as we know, with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Every state in our world needs decades and even centuries to create its own strategic line and inner policy… | |
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| 2484 reads | 14.10.2015 |
