Near Abroad: Putin, the West and the Contest over Ukraine and the Caucasus

by Gerard Toal

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, it invaded Georgia. Both states are part of Russia's "near abroad" - newly independent states that were once part of the Soviet Union and are now Russia's neighbors. While the Russia-Georgia war of 2008 faded from the headlines in the wake of the global recession, the geopolitical contest that created it did not. Six years later, the spectre of a revanchist Russia returned when Putin's forces invaded and annexed the Crimean peninsula, once part of Russia but an internationally recognized part of Ukraine since the Soviet collapse. Crimea's annexation and follow on conflict in eastern Ukraine have generated the greatest geopolitical crisis on the European continent since the end of the Cold War.

In Near Abroad, the eminent political geographer Gerard Toal moves beyond the polemical rhetoric that surrounds Russia's interventions in Georgia and Ukraine to study the underlying territorial conflicts and geopolitical struggles. Central to understanding are legacies of the Soviet Union collapse: unresolved territorial issues, weak states and a conflicted geopolitical culture in Russia over the new territorial order. The West's desire to expand NATO contributed to a growing geopolitical contest in Russia's near abroad. This found expression in a 2008 NATO proclamation that Georgia and Ukraine will become members of NATO, a "red line" issue for Russia. The road to invasion and war in Georgia and Ukraine, thereafter, is explained in Near Abroad.

Geopolitics is often thought of as a game of chess. Near Abroad provides an account of real life geopolitics, one that emphasizes changing spatial relationships, geopolitical cultures and the power of media images. Rather than being a cold game of deliberation, geopolitics is often driven by emotions and ambitions, by desires for freedom and greatness, by clashing personalities and reckless acts. Not only a penetrating analysis of Russia's relationships with its regional neighbors, Near Abroad also offers an analysis of how US geopolitical culture frequently fails to fully understand Russia and the geopolitical archipelago of dependencies in its near abroad.

Genres: Russia, Nonfiction, History, Politics, Ukraine, International Relations, War

408 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2016

Reviews

[Steven Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up to do some research ahead of writing a novel set in Ukraine. I've pored over several books to study Russian foreign policy, especially in relation to their dynamic with Ukraine. I've read some excellent works, such as Not by Bread Alone: Russian Foreign Policy under Putin and Putin's War Against Ukraine: Revolution, Nationalism, and Crime that are incredibly well-researched and informative.

Near Abroad: Putin, the West and the Contest over Ukraine and the Caucasus is well-researched, certainly. Gerard Toal cites his sources extensively. The precision with which he researched earns it three stars.

The problem with this novel is that with the data collected, he goes out of his way to try and be even-keeled in his handling of the subject matter that he ends up at some very questionable conclusions.

His conclusions on the Russo-Georgian conflict of 2008, I was willing to accept due to how things played out. Saakashvili making bold moves to reclaim South Ossetia after making friends with Americans such as John McCain does make logical sense. While I feel Saakashvili was well within his rights to not want Russians camped out inside of his country's sovereign borders, a bit more discretion in handling the situation instead of falling for Russian bait could have been warranted.

It's his conclusions on Ukraine that bring this book down in quality.

First off, he repeats the Russian agitprop lie that NATO promised not to expand at all and particularly not into former Soviet space. This has been debunked time and again, and yet "political realists" continue to cite it as justification for eight years of low-intensity conflict followed by two-plus years of full-spectrum military operations and acts of terrorism, such as deliberately targeting first responders in a "double-tap" attack in Odesa.

I also question the veracity of his polling results within Crimea. For all intents and purposes, Crimea has been under totalitarian Russian control. I have to wonder how many people genuinely spoke freely there. That said, even if one takes his polling of folks from Crimea at face-value, it certainly doesn't justify Russia illegally annexing it due to feeling "threatened" by NATO and the EU, especially when it was Ukrainian popular opinion to align with the EU and not the Russian-led EEU.

The final nail in the coffin was in the conclusion. Toal actually compares Russia's actions in Georgia (South Ossetia & Abkhazia), Ukraine, Moldova (Transnistria), and Azerbaijan (Nagorno-Karabakh) to US foreign policy in Central and South America. Specifically, he cites Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada), Operation Just Cause (Panama), and clandestine operations in El Salvador and Nicaragua in a whataboutist fashion to claim the US has no grounds to stand on to criticize Russian actions.

I have plenty of issue with Reagan's foreign policies. We can even get grisly and point out that the CIA allowed death squads to run amok and commit war crimes during anti-Communist campaigns.

That said:
-war crimes were an exception to US policy. In comparison, war crimes ARE Russian policy.

-In none of the places listed did the US raze the country to the ground, intentionally target civilians, conquer and occupy the areas, force the locals to abandon their native language in favor of the occupiers' language, or kidnap children and force them into adoption in the United States. Russia has done all of the above.

It was such a horribly poor take that my original three-star review was reduced to two-stars. Part of me acknowledges that this was written before the 2022 escalation and that perhaps Toal would reassess his conclusions in the wake of new information.

The thing is...you look at Russian history, this behavior is nothing new. Anyone who has ever lived under Russian oppression will attest as much.

What I learned from this book is unfortunately outweighed by the false equivocations and whataboutism. There are better books out there for learning about the near abroad.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting series of essays counter-theorizing the Russo-American relationship, and its implications for the 'archipelago' of mixed sovereignty independent statelets stretching across the south of former Soviet Union from Transdinistria in Moldova to Chechnya in Russia.

Toal internets these topics through the lens of critical geopolitics, seeking to "thicken," his word, our understanding of Russia, the region, and US policy towards both. In Toal's view, US policy and thought towards all three subjects has suffered from a lack of familiarity with the region and an emphasis on aphorisms rather than a policy that recognizes the innate complexity of the region.

Near Abroad focuses mostly on Georgia and the conflict over South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008. There are also several essays on Crimea and the Donbas, and his conclusions scopes out to recognize other "frozen conflicts" in the region where there are similar dynamics at play.

I don't necessarily agree with all of Toal's individual conclusions, and on Georgia in particular I think he may focus altogether too much on attributing the crisis to Saakashvilli without overtly explaining why he thinks earlier literature on the subject, such as The Guns of August 2008: Russia's War in Georgia which he cites but does not directly reference, get the emphasis wrong. The result is an explanation of the conflict that tends to view Russian and Ossetian actions sympathetically and Georgian actions critically.

Toal's book is still definitely worth reading however for anyone has an interest in the region. His conclusions on the state of both mainstream liberal US though on Russia, and alternative realist takes, is convincingly damning.

[Mark James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book pre-dates the Feb 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. But, wow, it really does lay out a solid understanding of the forces that led to the invasion.

Unlike, say, Tim Marshall's take that geography is deterministic (at least somewhat) in terms of why states act the way the way they do, Gerard Toal dives into the scholastic literature on affect and the role of fear in Vladimir Putin's actions. Toal explores a range of motivations regarding Russia's actions in Georgia and its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and in Ukraine - including Crimea and the Donbas - and critiques each of them.

Like Tim Marshall, everything flows from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent breakup of Russian Empire masquerading as the USSR. 'Affect' - the role of emotions, in both autocratic societies like Russia and democratic societies like the USA and EU - is fully elucidated in regards to the collapse and breakup of the USSR.

The first chapter is a bit rough; it is clearly aimed at academics. But hang in there. The rest is aimed at both students of geopolitics and interested news and current events junkies.

[Jelger Groeneveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of an important geopolitical development between Russia, the EU/NATO countries and the space between. Both for novices and long time followers with ample backgrounds and perspectives. I do not necessarily share some aspects of the conclusions, but that does not make this a less valuable book. Not very difficult to read for novice people into the history or geopolitics of the region.

[Raughley Nuzzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toal offers an interesting perspective on the conflict between Russia and its neighbors. He uses the term "near abroad" to distinguish the Russian calculus from the more classical "sphere of influence" as a sort of 21st century update. The book focuses on the Rose Revolution and the 2008 war in Georgia alongside the Maidan protests, the annexation of Crimea, and the beginning of the war for the Donbas in 2014. Though many of the players are the same, the two countries' experiences are not equated.

The author paints a fairly negative picture of Georgian political leadership and decisionmakers, in a narrative that goes largely counter to the one most popular in the West. Typically, Georgia is depicted as a European David facing down a neo-Soviet Goliath. Toal, flirting with Kremlin apologetics, shows the Saakashvili regime to be brash and ill-equipped for the position it found itself in.

Ukraine, as a much larger nation, seems better able to deal with the conflict, in Toal's telling. He seems to have done substantial on-the-ground polling throughout Ukraine, including in the conflict areas. This type of insight into Georgia, South Ossetia/Samachablo, and Abkhazia would have been an interesting way to draw parallels between the cases and potentially bolster or provide nuance to the author's analysis.

I am curious as to where Toal has landed in light of Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He does not seem to be pro-Kremlin, but his unflattering reality check for the standard Western narrative sometimes hews uncomfortably close to the Kremlin's agenda and pronouncements.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I shouldn't be hard on this author's writing, but I couldn't finish the book. It is about the conflicts in Georgia and Ukraine against Russia in the 2010's. It does explain some of the reasoning of Putin and his desire to "Make Russia Great Again." But it was just too detailed about people and places I know very little about. It was like reading an inorganic chemistry text when you have not read a basic chemistry text. Sorry Gerard.

[Craig Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book attempts to balance both the different European and Russian perspective on the same issues in the near abroad of the former Soviet Union. A suitable work for the reader wanting to understand all perspectives of the neighborhood.

[Thomas Escritt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nuanced! Disappoints all cheerleaders. 👏👏👏

[JJS. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed look at the main area of the conflicts of the former Soviet Union, and a very eye-opening and interesting survey at that. Toal's book goes up to the end of the Obama administation, however, I would argue that it remains relevant today, espeically since the events since Trump have (largely) continued along the same trajectory of what one could get from the main points made in this book. It's good not just for the detailed analysis of the events in Ukraine which proceeded Maidan and the annexation of Crimea, but especially for the equally detailed examination of Georgia, its two rebellious provinces and the events that led up to the war in 2008. The account of Georgia is especially valuable since, despite the war having been over for many years now, the situation mostly remains as it was left at in August 2008, and it is often forgotten. The main topic that this book doesn't cover is, of course the full-scale invasion that Russia started into Ukraine in Febuary 2022. However, I don't feel it detracts much because, reading this book, one could see the invasion as an event that would follow, given that the conflict remained unsolved, and instead simmered, before boiling over, into something far worse. Overall, this book is a good place to learn about the former Soviet space, and how it plays into the present NATO-Russia and US-Russia dynamic, and, most importantly, because of Toal's willingness to criticize the players involved, regardless of which side they're on, and is very judicious in doing so.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great look at Russia's interests in Ukraine and Georgia in the early 21st century. Toal comes at it with a very detailed perspective, while keeping it easy to understand. Going over both Ukraine and Georgia in separate chapters, as well as Russia, he looks at how they both developed in the post-Soviet era and tried to distance themselves from Russian influence, only to have pushback and ultimately conflict. For those already familiar with the events there it won't add much new information, but it is great for someone first looking at the topic, and to have all this in one source is also a great thing.