Vitaly Kozyrev
Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Endicott College
Cooperative Multipolarity: Why Does China Need Russia in the Battle Over the Global South?
In their attempts to confront the Western dominance, the leaders of China and Russia claim their new global role in maintaining global stability and consolidating the countries of the Global South to fight against neoliberal neocolonialism. This paper examines China’s policy toward the Global South as well as the CPC’s major narratives to restore the ‘Bandung spirit’ and secure agency of the countries of the Global South in the formation of a just and equitable world order. In this ambitious strategy however, China has to compete with the U.S., European great powers, and India which develop their own respective engagement strategies toward the Global South. Russia’s traditional position among the developing countries informed by the Soviet legacy of assisting the countries in choosing their socialist orientation patterns, along with Moscow’s recent strategy aimed at the revision of the current Western-dominated global order, might become an asset for China’s own plans to achieve its goals. By strengthening its alignment with Russia, China could strengthen its position among the countries of the Global South by pursuing the principles of inclusiveness, positive-sum cooperation, and the respect of sovereignty and civilizational identity. The comparative analysis of China-Russia’s efforts in Central Asia, Southeast Asia and West Africa demonstrates that Beijing and Moscow need to implement their carefully measured and nuanced strategies to prove that they indeed represent the vanguard of anti-neocolonialism, do not seek any forms of domination, and protect the collective interests of local communities as well as the consolidated global majority.
Speaker Bio
Vitaly Kozyrev is a Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts, and an Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University. His research focuses on great power politics, geopolitical risks, international conflicts, and the political economy of regionalism and integration. His selected publications include The New Cold War at Sea: Maritime Implications of the China-Russia Quasi-Alliance (with Lyle Goldstein, U.S. Naval Institute Press, forthcoming 2025); “North Korea and the Politics of Engagement,” in Engaging North Korea (Routledge, 2024); “Europe between Washington and Beijing,” in Europe in an Era of US-China Strategic Rivalry (Springer, 2024); Rekindling the Strong State in Russia and China: Domestic Dynamics and Foreign Policy Projections (Brill, 2020).
