On the morning of June 4th, 2021, the third session of IIAS Eurasia Lecture Series was held at Conference Room 205 of the Central Main Building, with the theme of “Reset of Time and Space: Multi-polar Order after Former Empire and American Hegemony in Eurasia”. The event was delivered by Prof. Zhang Xin, Associate Professor at the School of Advanced International and Area Studies, East China Normal University, to assistant research professors and doctorate candidates at Institute of International and Area Studies, Tsinghua University (IIAS-THU) as well as external participants.

Prof. Zhang started the lecture with four entry points from theories to topic analysis, that is, comparing the strategic practices of the regional and world order of the former empires in Eurasia, creating the space-time imagination and reconfiguration of China, Russia and Turkey, exploring the new geopolitical and ideological stages of non-Western order, and reviewing the strategic attempt to establish regional and global order.

As to case studies, Prof. Zhang elaborated what Turkey, Russia and China have in common, where were all Eurasian empires in the early 20th century, experienced a difficult transition from empires to modern nation-states, and formed a new regional order in their own way. He pointed out that the convergence of different policies and issues of the three countries is mainly reflected in the process of identity construction, the moral opposition to American hegemony and the relevance of overall convergence. In the last part of the lecture, Prof. Zhang explained he characteristics of the current strategies of Russia and Turkey from the dimensions of geography, culture and history by citing vivid cases.

After the lecture, Prof. Zhang and the audience had heated discussions on the implications of the return of the empires, the reasons for the differences in the reconstruction of spatial power patterns, and the reasons for the use of historical and cultural discourse as ideological construction.

Zhang Xin is Associate Professor at the School of Advanced International and Area Studies, East China Normal University, Deputy Director of the Center for Russian Studies and Member of the Editorial Board of Russian Studies. He holds a PhD in Political Science and has made significant research findings in the fields of international political economics, economic sociology, internal affairs and diplomacy between Russia and Eurasia, and energy and natural resources. He has experiences in media commentary and policy analysis and has participated in policy consulting projects of the Eurasian Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and China Development Bank. Prof. Zhang has published many SSCI and CSSCI papers, including “Theoretical Perspective of Ukrainian Crisis”, “State Capitalism, Privatization and Elite Struggle: Dual Logic of Recent ‘State-Capital’ Relationship in Russia”, “Re-Politics of Russian Politics”, “Asymmetric Partnership: The Impact of Sino-Russian Energy Cooperation on EU-Russia Relations” and “Civil Society and the Anatomy of a Rural NGO”. He is also the translator of States and Power.

Text by: Wang Zijing
Typesetting by: Wang Zijing
Reviewed by: Eurasia Group