Anti-Americanism In Russia Since The End Of The Cold War

Anti-Americanism is a hot topic for both domestic and overseas scholars in recent years. This has a lot to do with the rise of Anti-Americanism around the globe since the end of the Cold War. Compared with what happened before the end of the Cold War, the Anti-Americanism since the end of the Cold War has been much larger in scope and stronger in intensity. Its carriers and the means adopted by them have also become diversified. This author tends to believe that, the further spread of Anti-Americanism around the globe since the end of the Cold War is closely related to the unprecedented influence brought about by the un-matching power of the United States. And the ever stronger unilateralism and hegemonism in America's foreign policy has also contributed a lot to the rapid rise of Anti-Americanism in many regions.As to the current Russian Anti-Americanism, it contrasts dramatically with what it was like during the Cold War. At that time, a large number of Soviet people had a pro-American attitude as opposed to the Soviet government's anti-American stance. In fact, Russian Anti-Americanism on the public level appeared after Russia achieved independence and embraced the American-style political and economic system. The economic hardship brought about by the failure of the "Shock Therapy" is the major reason for the emergence of Russian anti-Americanism, while America's inability to provide Russia with the much-in-need economic assistance exacerbated Russian people's disappointment and even resentment with the United States. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's national power has declined a lot, and so has its influence in the international arena, which has left a great psychological gap among most Russian people. In search of a new national identity, a new isolationism based on Russian people's uniqueness and moderate Anti-Americanism appeared in Russia, becoming an important part of the new Russian identity. Russia's introduction of democratic voting system and parliamentary system has also made it possible for domestic political struggle and public opinion to play an even more important role in foreign policy decision-making. Under such circumstances, Anti-Americanism becomes an effective tool for the political opposition to exert pressure on the government. Attacks from the opposition parties on the government's foreign policy forced the latter to revise its policy and led to Russia's even stronger anti-American stance. Furthermore, the US policy since the end of the Cold War aimed at keep Russia weak is also an important reason for the rise of Russian Anti-Americanism.However, what is noteworthy is that, Russia's anti-Americanism is a moderate one. In fact, like people in many other countries, most Russians show little interest in world politics, let alone the United States. They are more preoccupied with their own daily life and pay little attention to many issues in Russian diplomacy. From what has happened since the early 1990s, we may easily discover that Russian anti Americanism has been largely influenced by sudden events and the media coverage. Russian anti-Americanism is also characterized by the coexistence of anti American and pro-American attitudes among Russian people. On the one hand, they associate the United States with prosperity, advanced technology and democracy. On the other hand, America is a country which is pursuing aggressive foreign policies in their eyes. This kind of ambivalence has become the mainstream opinion of Russian people on the United States.Finally, what is the future development trend of the Russian anti-Americanism? This author tends to believe that Russian anti-Americanism will remain in the foreseeable future. My reasons are as follows: first, from the perspective of domestic politics, the anti-American attitude held by the left-wing(including the Communists and radical nationalists) political force will not change in the near future; second, the strategic confrontation between Russia the America will continue to exist in the foreseeable future. The United States will not give up its dream of building a unipolar world and Russia will not satisfy with its current role as a second-class player in the world politics. It has become consensus among Russian grassroots and elites that Russia must rise again as a big power, which may pose a challenge to the US hegemony. However, whether the Russian anti-Americanism will rise again and reach another peak will to a large extent depend on the interaction between those two powers. If the US side continues to erode Russia's sphere of influence and violate the latter's national interests, then we'll not rule out the possibility of Russian anti-Americanism's rise again. But Russian anti-Americanism will remain a moderate one and be under control. This is largely because: on the one hand, Russian leaders are fully aware that a confrontation with the United States will not be in the Russia's interests, and seeking cooperation with the United States will still be one of Russia's priorities; on the other hand, it is very hard to mobilize the grassroots and launch a large-scale anti-Americanism movement in today's Russia, in light of most Russian people's disinterest with diplomacy and international politics. Therefore, Russian anti-Americanism will remain, but in the form of a moderate one.