Area studies and contemporary China’s research on Russian affairs: paradigm and development

Research on Russian affairs constitutes a significant component of China’s international studies. This article examines existing perspectives in Russian studies, summarizes fundamental viewpoints and prevailing issues within China’s current research on Russian affairs, and analyzes the progress, challenges and potential future directions of this research. Globally, the dominant paradigms in Russian studies are Westernism and Nativism. The Westernist paradigm advocates examining changes in Russia’s politics, economy and foreign policy through the lens of Western civilizational development, whereas the Nativist paradigm is grounded in an understanding of Russia’s distinct historical trajectory. A key challenge for China’s Russian studies community lies in transcending these two paradigms. Since the end of the Cold War, China’s research on Russia has achieved notable progress, including the formation of a stable academic community, the establishment of application- oriented research agendas and initial attempts at interdisciplinary integration and paradigm innovation. However, future challenges include strengthening economic research, expanding the subnational-level analysis, and enhancing the study and tracking of Russian public opinion. The key future directions for development include promoting the diversification of research topics, encouraging fieldwork, enhancing the focus on quantitative methods, and ultimately aiming to establish a “Russian Studies” framework with Chinese characteristics, both in terms of academic content and disciplinary methods.