Political Stance
Nikolai Zlobin has proposed the theory of a so-called “polar-less” world, according to which the modern system of global politics is not based around two superpowers as it has been since the Cold War and, contrary to the opinions of numerous experts, is not based around numerous centers of power either. Zlobin claims that "polar-less" world will have no dominating centers of power whatsoever. Zlobin is a supporter of the idea of the disintegration of sovereignty of states. He is also known to believe that traditional national states and economies are dying out and promotes the creation of new principles of global security, replacing those with a regional approach, and a new system of international institutions.
Zlobin has stated on numerous occasions that the process of USSR’s collapse hasn't reached conclusion and will continue and new international borders would be formed on the Post-Soviet Territories. He considers that it is possible for Russia to break apart into several states, and supports the elimination of internal national borders within the Russian Federation.
Zlobin is one of the few American political experts to openly support the independence of Abhazia. At the same, he is known to appraise reforms in Georgia’s domestic policy.
Zlobin is a harsh critic of Russian policy, although many of his readers and observers believe him to informally support and advise it. In addition, he is known to have personally met and interacted with Russia’s leaders in the past. For example, in 2005, he was given a signed memo by Vladimir Putin stating that the latter wouldn’t run for president in 2008 and wouldn't change the Constitution in order to allow himself to become president again.
Putin is known to have told Nikolai Zlobin on several occasions - in 2006 and then in 2011, that he had never considered himself a true politician. In 2008 Zlobin asked Vladimir Putin how long the latter had been planning to remain the prime-minister. Putin replied that he would remain at that post as long as “God wills”.
Zlobin was one of the more active commentators on the Russian presidential elections, 2012 and was the author of some of the more interesting questions raised during the election campaign. In 2009 Putin told Zlobin that him and Dmitry Medvedev will not be running against each other at the elections in 2012, but would rather “sit down and talk it over”. Medvedev confirmed those words shortly after, emphasizing that he was prepared for anything.
In the fall 2011 Putin was asked by Zlobin why was Putin’s political system unsuccessful at breeding young political leaders. Putin declared that the leaders were there, although couldn’t name anyone but Dmitriy Medvedev. During a Q&A with presidential candidate Vladimir Putin in February 2012 Zlobin raised a question of why Russia had no political allies in the World. Putin gave a vague reply that the fact that Winter Olympics 2014 were voted to take place in Russia proved that Russia had “many allies”.
In 2012 Zlobin was one of the few experts who had a positive opinion about Dmitry Medvedev's term as a president, more specifically his foreign policy decisions. Zlobin was criticized by his colleagues around the world for this as a result.
Zlobin was mentioned several times in documents, published by WikiLeaks, where he was defined as an American political expert connected to “Edinaya Rossiya” (United Russia) party. As stated in the documents, Zlobin had come to the conclusion that Russian president-prime minister tandem works.
Read more about this topic: Nikolai Zlobin (political Scientist)
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