No to a Separate Peace
A Reply to the Concept of “Plural Peace”
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
It is pertinent to ask how the current confrontation between Russia and the West can be overcome. However, the recommendation by peace researchers Spanger and Dembinski for a new policy towards Russia fails to convince. The notion of a “plural peace” is no more than a re-labelling of the “multipolar peace” à la russe. Their arguments amount to a guarantee of the continued existence of an autocratic regime in the name of pluralism. They offer a formula from the Cold War, namely peaceful coexistence along Soviet lines: the acceptance of zones of influence and a Russian cordon sanitaire at the expense of the states in “Zwischeneuropa”.
(Osteuropa 3-4/2017, pp. 103–108)