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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 09/02
Toward the Common Good: Building a New U.S.-Russian Relationship
July 2001
Abstract
The Bush administration faces a Russia that is at a critical and perhaps defining juncture in its history. The country’s leadership has launched a reform agenda that, if carried through, will take Russia further down the path toward becoming a modern, market-oriented democracy. The resistance to change in Russia is significant, and the ultimate success of these reforms is far from assured. Yet the reform initiative gives the United States and Russia an opportunity to set their relationship on a new foundation that will enhance international peace, stability, freedom and prosperity in an increasingly interdependent world.
Attaining this goal will not be easy and will not occur overnight. Both countries must decide whether they care to make the investment of presidential vision, leadership, commitment and other resources necessary to reach this goal. Even with this investment, success is not guaranteed; both countries will need to make tough, deep changes. Russia must press forward on a path toward becoming a "normal" market democracy that fits into the international system better than it does today. It is a simple truth that neither the United States nor other leading members of the international community will pursue the type of new relationship that we envision with Russia–or with any other country for that matter–unless it meets basic norms of behavior, both at home and abroad.
For its part, the United States must accept that Russia is a sovereign country with its own legitimate interests and must shed its fixation for judging and micromanaging every twist and turn in Russia’s reforms. The United States must also work better to understand the impact on Russia of the events of the last decade and the enormous new challenges that they have left for the current Russian leadership and its civil society. It is necessary to understand these challenges, such as the fight against the widespread corruption that hinders small- and medium-sized firms from entering market competition, in order to make fair and objective judgments about the policies and actions of President Putin and his administration.
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