GLOBAL SECURITY
Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe ( CSCE ), and comprised countries from both sides of Europe ' s Cold War divide .
However , Russia was frozen out . Instead of becoming part of a new pan-European alliance , it was confronted with an expanded NATO that had even incorporated some of the former Soviet bloc states .
“ There was a great sense of betrayal in Russia . Vladimir Putin came to power on this resentment and even his Victory Day speech on 9 May this year still referred to betrayal as part justification for his actions ,” says Dr Flenley .
“ The problem for Putin , however , is this rhetoric doesn ’ t resonate with many younger Russians who , as in the West , see themselves as belonging to a global community . Suddenly all that ’ s coming to an end . The younger generations are seeing their futures closed out – opportunities closed down . At the moment , people are too scared to speak out but if the isolation continues , this resentment will build .
“ That said , the more nationalist forces around the world , including the Kremlin , are also adept at getting their message out across social media to present a counter narrative to the globalism standpoint .”
Cosmopolitanism versus communitarianism
This is where Professor Peter Lee , Director , Security and Risk Research and Innovation at the University of Portsmouth , sees the real power struggles opening up and which involve both state and non-state adversaries .
Broadly he sees the world dividing between cosmopolitanism and communitarianism : the prioritising of individual rights that are central to a liberal democratic , global view of the world versus prioritising the rights of states above individualism .
Professor Lee depicts communitarianism as the antithesis to the rise in recent decades of globalism : “ Instead of emphasising the world as a global community , a global marketplace , a global entity , it emphasises community identity and cohesion ... and this can be a caliphate or the nationalism of a nation state . We see it in religious fundamentalism , in aspects of Brexit and in the rupture we are witnessing in American domestic politics .
“ So , for me , the big dynamic in global relations today is the shift towards communitarianism , which also encompasses the Islamic State ( ISIS ) and al Qaeda , though al Qaeda ’ s communitarianism is ideological not geographical .”
Professor Lee notes how this very human need for community identity runs deep – centuries deep . He points out that when the founder of ISIS , Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi , made his first pronouncements in 2014 , he referenced the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement that carved the Middle East into British and French colonies that for many Arabs were , and remain , artificial countries – false identities .
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made it clear that ISIS did not recognise the Sykes- Picot borders . He was explicitly citing a 100-year-old agreement by former colonial powers as justification for the terror ISIS was about to unleash .
“ So when we look at global instability today , we can trace aspects – such as Russia ’ s attempts to reassert itself – to the Cold War , and when we also try to understand terrorism , there is an even longer historic route to track back on ,” says Professor Lee . He suggests both are examples of communitarianism and , in both cases , many in the West weren ’ t paying attention – blinkered perhaps by growing faith in cosmopolitanism .
There was a great sense of betrayal in Russia . Vladimir Putin came to power on this resentment and even his Victory Day speech on 9 May this year still referred to betrayal as part justification for his actions .
– Dr Paul Flenley
38 ISSUE 04 / 2022