30 July 2020
The leading researcher of the Euro-Atlantic Security Center of the MGIMO Institute for International Studies, Editor-in-Chief of the journal International Analytics S.Markedonov was invited to join the renowned British scientific journal Caucasus Survey as a guest editor. The special issue presents a selection of articles by employees of MGIMO’s Institute for International Studies.
Caucasus Survey is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal that publishes research findings on the republics of the North and South Caucasus, the local populations and diasporas, and on the politics of Russia and other countries in the region. Founded in 2013, the journal has been published since 2015 by the Routledge publishing house (Taylor and Francis Group) and has made it into the first quartile of the Scopus database.
The goal of the special issue is to analyse Russian policy in the Caucasus, by presenting two perspectives: an internal one directed towards the Russian North Caucasus and a foreign policy direction considering Russia's actions in the Caucasus. The objective is to present through a series of different articles the various views on the topic.
S.Markedonov’s project was supported by the Co-editor in chief of Caucasus Survey L.Broers, and the five articles were published in the second issue of 2020. They deal with issues such as the strategic importance of the Caucasus region for Russian politics (A.Sushentsov, N.Neklyudov), the specificities of Russian nationality policy in the region (N.Silaev), the evolution of Russian approaches to frozen conflicts (A.Kazantsev, I.Safranchuk & al), the confrontation of the legal and political aspects of Russian intervention in conflict settlement in the region (A.Nikitin), and US-Russia relations concerning the Caucasus region (S.Markedonov, M.Suchkov).
In S. Markedonov’s words, “this experience of publishing a special issue is interesting and unique. There are notably few leading first-quartile academic journals, which are ready to provide a platform for a wide range of Russian views. Most importantly, the analysis presented is not politicized, but academic. One of the articles was co-authored with an American researcher, revealing that academic cooperation between Russian and Western academics is not only possible, but can be very productive and constructive, even though some issues remain controversial."
In June 2020, the IIS team under the leadership of Director A.Sushentsov and Editor-in-chief S.Markedonov relaunched the journal International Analytics, published by the Institute since 2010. The reform of the journal is part of the 2019-2024 roadmap for the development of the Institute for International Studies aimed at strengthening the authority of MGIMO researchers in the international academic community.
The release of this special issue in a leading foreign academic journal with articles by MGIMO employees is an effective way of increasing the visibility of Russian academic views on international problems, all the while fostering long-term institutional ties between scientists from different countries and contributing to a balanced dialogue.
