Multivector foreign policies

Posted on February 25th, 2009 Jack No comments  Print This Post

One concern of this blog is authoritarian cooperation. This refers to the coordinated international strategies that authoritarian governments use to keep power.

This is an excellent post about an example of that. Foreign Minister Lavrov is on record speaking about Russia’s deepening ties with populist governments in Latin America. These governments are in power because their predecessors’ “neoliberal recipes” failed to deliver on popular expectations. Their relations with Russia are based on “mutual advantage,” not ideology. Yet Russia is not seeking a Latin American sphere of influence or fomenting a new Cold War. These ties are the result of a “multivector” foreign policy, which globalization makes necessary.

Putin-Chavez summits must represent just one vector.

So what is a multivector foreign policy? Apparently Kyrgyzstan has one too. Here is one definition:

Any multivector policy is always a balance, and not always simple and easy. Kyrgyz diplomats in their assignments routinely received directions to maintain good relations with one partner without sacrificing relations with others. Multivector policies imply eschewing exclusiveness and special “spheres of influence.”

According to Gregory Gleason for RFE/RL, Kyrgyzstan’s multivector foreign policy is coming apart. President Bakiev realizes that, to stay president, he has to pick one vector and abandon others:

It may be that the unraveling of Kyrgyzstan’s multivectoral policy is less a decision of choice than an act of desperation. Bakiev is facing formidable challenges as he seeks to defend his administration from internal opposition, respond to the difficulties of the global economic downturn, and secure support from the most influential foreign partner in the Eurasian region.