MODERN GEOPOLITICAL RESEARCH IN RUSSIA

In this article, we present the results of our study into the contribution of geography to modern geopolitics in Russia. We stress the interdisciplinary nature of geopolitical studies and identify ensuing problems. Using content analysis of the eLIBRARY bibliography database and Elsevier’s abstract and citation database Scopus, we conclude that geography has considerably affected the development of modern geopolitics in Russia. The contribution of geographers is rather modest considering the number of PhD theses and research publications. However, it becomes more visible when textbooks only are taken into account. Geographical studies are an indispensable part of geopolitical research, which we identified using the object-subject criteria reflecting the effect that properties of territories have on the policies of states located within them. This relates to marine geopolitics, ethnic geopolitics, geoeconomics, ecopolitics, political geoconflict studies, and mediageopolitics. We consider geopolitics and ethnic geopolitics to be priority areas of geographical and geopolitical studies. Geography plays a major role in the comprehensive geopolitical studies into territories of different size. Geopolitics of post-Soviet space, geopolitics of Russia, domestic geopolitics, and critical geopolitics examine the combined effect of the properties of territories on the policies of states implemented in them. We stress that most geographical and geopolitical works focus on analysing the geopolitical location of territories, the geopolitical interests of states, and the identification of mechanisms behind the geopolitical vision of the population.


GEOPOLITICAL RESEARCH
In this article, we present the results of our study into the contribution of geography to modern geopolitics in Russia. We stress the interdisciplinary nature of geopolitical studies and identify ensuing problems. Using content analysis of the eLIBRARY bibliography database and Elsevier's abstract and citation database Scopus, we conclude that geography has considerably affected the development of modern geopolitics in Russia. The contribution of geographers is rather modest considering the number of PhD theses and research publications. However, it becomes more visible when textbooks only are taken into account. Geographical studies are an indispensable part of geopolitical research, which we identified using the object-subject criteria reflecting the effect that properties of territories have on the policies of states located within them. This relates to marine geopolitics, ethnic geopolitics, geoeconomics, ecopolitics, political geoconflict studies, and mediageopolitics. We consider geopolitics and ethnic geopolitics to be priority areas of geographical and geopolitical studies. Geography plays a major role in the comprehensive geopolitical studies into territories of different size. Geopolitics of post-Soviet space, geopolitics of Russia, domestic geopolitics, and critical geopolitics examine the combined effect of the properties of territories on the policies of states implemented in them. We stress that most geographical and geopolitical works focus on analysing the geopolitical location of territories, the geopolitical interests of states, and the identification of mechanisms behind the geopolitical vision of the population. Although in Russia, geopolitics is a young research area with quite an ambiguous history, it has merited the attention of academia, the political community, and a wider audience. Geopolitics is a product of political geography and military science. Today, it is developed in Russia by political scientists, philosophers, historians, economists, sociologists, lawyers, and other researchers. Their texts often state that the geographical foundation of the theoretical framework of geopolitics is becoming eroded. The science of geopolitics studies how the properties of a territory affect the politics of the states located within it. In other words, a geopolitical study requires deep knowledge of the properties of a territory. This is a natural skill for geographers and a conditional skill for other experts.
The young age of the science, its ambiguous history, and the interdisciplinary nature of the studies translate in Russia into the absence of a single universally accepted methodology and conceptual framework. When solving research problems, each expert uses the tools of the science of his or her specialisation. Moreover, the popularity of geopolitics with non-specialists oversimplifies geopolitical texts, supplements everyday lexis with scientific terms, and gives the reader the wrong idea that geopolitics equals the foreign policy of a state. Taken together, these features of the science both prevent non-geographers from a correct understanding and a sound discussion of geopolitical studies and make geopolitical texts less comprehensible. Today's politicised society emphases the political aspect of geopolitics and ignores its geographical component. The question of how geography and geopolitics correlate in the modern world (if they do at all) is left hanging in mid-air. In this study, we will look for an answer to this question.

Methods
To understand the contribution of modern geography to Russian geopolitical studies, we conducted content analysis of two abstract and citation databases. The first one is eLIBRARY, one of the most open and comprehensive bibliographic databases that index geopolitical literature. The second is Scopus, the world's largest abstract and citation database. Today, visitors of eLIBRARY. RU have access to the abstracts and full texts of over 26 million research articles and publications, including over 5,300 Russian journals in science and technology. Over 24,000 journals in science, technology, and medicine from about 5,000 international publishers are indexed in Scopus.
We searched the eLIBRARY database for titles, abstracts, and keywords containing the word geopolitics. The search covered three types of publications: dissertations, books, and journal articles. Conference pro-ceedings, reports, patents, and deposited manuscripts were not analysed. We did not take into account references and full-text matches.
As to Scopus, we used the following search strings: TITLE-ABS-KEY (geopolitic*) and AFFILCOUNTRY (russia*). That is, we searched the database for titles, abstracts, and keywords containing the English term geopolitics, whereas our search was restricted to publications by authors with a Russian affiliation.
Our analysis of Scopus covered the most popular types of publications available through the database: articles (454), reviews (69), conference papers (41), book chapters (18), books (11), articles in press (3), editorials (1), notes (1). 1 Below we will detail the technical aspects of our analysis and thus provide a better understanding of the results obtained. Firstly, in eLI-BRARY, the research field of a publication is determined by the database operator, using the system's classifier of the subject category of the journal, whereas the author's field of inquiry is not taken into account (this does not apply to dissertations). In Scopus, the subject area of a publication is the category of the journal. Secondly, a study can span several disciplines (for instance, geography, politics, philosophy, etc.). Thirdly, the decision on whether the subject area of a publication is geopolitics is made by the author when he or she uses this term in the abstract, the title, or keywords.

Results and discussion
Our study demonstrated that out of 46 eLIBRARY-indexed dissertations on geopolitics defended in Russia in 1991-2015, only 2 % is for a degree in geography (table 1). In absolute figures, it is one dissertation (authored by A. B. Elatskov). This is quite surprising since the community of economic geographers includes many researchers who defended works with greater or lesser relevance to geopolitics during this period. The reason for that is quite simple. Most dissertations submitted for a degree in geography are studies in political geography, which considers geopolitics as its constituent subject area. Out of 1,500 dissertations prepared during the study period for a degree in economic, social, political, and recreational geography, one hundred mentioned geopolitics as a keyword. Twelve of them have a direct bearing on the subject. Apparently, the authors (including the authors of this article) did not deem it necessary to articulate the connection of their works to geopolitics in either abstract or keywords, thus classifying them as contributions to political geography. As to books, the situation is very similar: only 3 % are classified as works in geography by the eLIBRARY system, which fully conforms to the State Classifier of Research and Engineering Information (SCREI). Moreover, not all of the authors are geographers. Alongside prominent economic geographers focusing to a greater or lesser degree on geopolitical aspects (V. L. Baburin Obviously, the research field of dissertations and books in geopolitics does not provide full and objective information that could help us under-stand what place geography holds in geopolitical studies. The reason for that is that most findings are published in journal articles. At first glance, the situation seems to be more optimistic when periodicals are considered. Out of 121 eLIBRARY-indexed journals, in which geographers published their works on geopolitics, 25 (21 %), according to the SCREI are assigned to geography and 7 (6 %) to the subject area referred to as 'comprehensive study of territories'. In other words, about a third of journals in which geographers published their geopolitical works have a direct bearing on geography.
Despite the wide popularity of geopolitics and the resultant (quite regrettable) abundance of populist texts, most journals publishing geographers' contributions to the field are respectable academic periodicals. Eighty-seven per cent are indexed by the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI). Sixty-seven per cent are included in the list of peer-reviewed periodicals entitled to publish the findings of dissertations submitted for a research degree (the list of the Higher Attestation Committee [HAC]). Six per cent are indexed in the Scopus abstract and citation database (table 2). Similarly to dissertations and books, most of the journals focus on economics, history, and political science. To a degree, this is explained by the interdisciplinary nature of political science. However, the proportion of geographical journals in the eLIBRARY database is extremely low (journals assigned to geography account for 1.2 % of all the periodicals and those assigned to the category 'comprehensive study of countries and regions' for 0.4 %). 2 Table 2 The status and research field of major journals publishing geographers' contributions in geopolitics Prepared and calculated by the authors using eLIBRARY data (numbers stand for the number of journals with a respective status).
The same journal can be assigned to more than one category. This is proven by analysis of the subject areas of HAC journals where geographer's geopolitical works have appeared. Our analysis shows that, out of 81 journals, nine are assigned to the 'geography' category (although this assignment is non-exclusive). Three journals are purely geographical: geography being their only subject area. These are the Izvestiya of the Russian Academy of Sciences (geography series), the Vestnik of Moscow State University (Series 5: geography), and, with some reservations, the Uchenye zapiski of the Vladimir Vernadsky Crimean Federal University (the journal is assigned to the categories 'geology', and 'geography'). However, having published only one or two geopolitical publications, these journals rank lowest as regards the number of such contributions ( fig. 1). For obvious reasons, the leaders in this respects are journals in political science: the Izvestsiya of Irkutsk State University (political and religious studies series [five publications]), the Politicheskaya nauka (five publications), the Sravnitelnaya politika (three), and the Geopolitika and bezopasnost (three). A noticeable number of geopolitical articles has been published in periodicals specialising in social issues (history, philosophy, sociology) or multidisciplinary journals. In 1995-2017, 539 geopolitical publications by Russian authors were indexed in Scopus. These articles were published in 244 periodicals assigned to eight subject areas: 4 social sciences (36.1 %), economics, econometrics, and finance (18.3 %), arts and humanities (13.9 %), business and management (5.6 %), Earth sciences (5.4 %), and others.
The SCREI categories of 'geography' and 'comprehensive study of territories' correspond to subject area 3305 'Geography, Planning and Development', which is assigned to social sciences (table 3). This area accounts for slightly above 11 % of all the publications. Table 3 The subject areas of Scopus-indexed publications in geopolitics, 1995-2017 As to Scopus 6 -and eLIBRARY-indexed periodicals, Russian authors of geopolitical studies prefer journals in political science (30 %) to those in geography (11 %). This fact may be considered as a positive phenomenon, an instance of cooperation among specialists in allied sciences studying the same object. The World Economy and International Relations, a bilingual journal at the interface of economics and political science, ranks first (table 4) for the number of geopolitical publications that appeared in 1995-2017 (26). We believe that there is another reason for such publication behaviour, i. e. preference for journals in economics and political science; it is the fact that geographical journals are underrepresented in Scopus and eLIBRARY (2.6 %). At the same time, about 4 % of economic journals and 6 % of periodicals in political science are indexed in the databases. Table 4 clearly shows that most Russian authors publish their articles in national periodicals (80 % of the top 10 journals are of Russian origin). As of today, only eight Russian geographical journals are indexed in the database. 1 The analysis of Scopus-indexed geographical journals reveals a similar behaviour by Russian authors (fig. 2). The Regional Research of Russia geographical journal accounts for the absolsute majority of the publications. The periodical acquaints the English-speaking audience with the best articles from three Russian journals: the Izvestiya of the Russian Academy of Science (geography series), the Region: ekonomika i sotsiologiya, and the Izvestsiya of the Russian Geographical Society.  A major qualitative characteristic of journals in geography is their high quality of research. The very fact that Russian experts publish their works in Scopus-indexed journals, i. e. those meeting international publishing standards, testifies to this. Moreover, most articles by Russian authors are published in quartile-ranked journals (table), which increases the chance of the articles of Russian researchers to be read and cited. The commonness of geopolitical articles in economic and political science journals may be explained by a large representation of these periodicals in Scopus. It is more difficult to account for the absence of geopolitical works in geographical journals.
When analysing bibliography in geopolitics, one cannot but notice that its diversity may be reduced to several areas used as barometers of the state of research.
Geopolitical publications have considerable applied significance. In particular, there is a plethora of educational resources in the field. In Russia only, there are about one hundred textbooks and series of lectures in geopolitics (reprints excluded). These resources have considerable differences in structure and content. Moreover, there are numerous readers, anthologies, dictionaries, etc. In this case, we searched the databases for titles and books only. Abstracts, keywords, full-text mentions and references matches were not taken into account.
No other area of geography is so well equipped with educational resources. However, similarly to research publications, historians (26 %), political scientists (21 %), and philosophers (17 %) account for most publications, whereas the works of geographers and sociologists comprise 9 % each -a significant yet let impressive proportion (table 6). Prepared and calculated by the authors using eLIBRARY data.
In being non-research literature, textbooks were filling the gap in concrete geopolitical knowledge, which was attributed to the initial absence of geopolitical texts, by introducing authors' visions of certain situations into the process of education. In this sense, the most comprehensive and interesting textbooks can be divided into two categories. Those of the first category focus on the influence of a certain geopolitical factor on the system of international relations. For instance, the textbook by K. V. Simonov pays attention to the impact of the oil and gas factor on the system of international relations; that by Sh.  [1], and others. Although all of them are monographs focusing on the titular geopolitical issue, they contain didactic sections (questions for discussions, tests, topics for essays, recommended reading lists, etc.), which simplify grasping the material. A prominent work in this context is the multi-author and multi-volume textbook prepared by the staff of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation [2]. The work is a lucky combination of a study into the factors affecting the system of global re-lations and an examination of the countries and regions where it is at work. Probably, it will act as a factor restricting the appearance of new textbooks on geopolitics.
The abundance of educational resources on geopolitics complicated the choice of an optimal one. Major players are textbooks from large publishing houses. They appear in many copies and many editions. These works contain the most systematised geopolitical knowledge. Although all Russian geopolitical education is usually traced to the works of E. A. Pozdnyakov [63], K. S. Gadzhiev [64], and A. G. Dugin [65], today there are academically recognised textbooks on geopolitics in each discipline. For geographers, these are works by V. A. Kolosov and N. S. Mirnoneko [3], and V. A. Dergachev [4] The second area is the history and theory of geopolitics. It both helps students of geopolitics by giving an opportunity to read the originals (or high-quality translations) of classical and modern geopolitical texts and contributes to the development of a geographical vision. The most significant works in this area are the studies by Yu. N. Gladky and S. V. Pisarenko [5], P. Ya. Baklanov [6], L. A. Bezrukov [7], A. B. Elatskov [8], M. Yu. Elsukov [9], and others.
The third area brings together works focusing on the influence of a single property of a territory on the politics of the state located within it. Within the academic geographical community, such studies have been carried out by D. V. Zhitin [10], A. B. Elatskov [11], M. Yu. Elsukov [9], and others. However, the contribution of geographers to the development of the above areas of geopolitical studies has never been emphasised. Obviously, few geographers have addressed the effect of the environment on the system of international relations. At the same time, such investigations remain relevant for experts in other sciences. For instance, the influence of soil has been examined by T. A. Zubkova and L. O. Karpachevsky [12] and that of climate by E. P. Borisenkov [13]. Geographers are interested in studying how foreign policy is affected by the geographical location, the ethnic/demographic makeup, the level and structure of economic development, the strategic significance of the territory, the local mass media, etc. The following areas of geographical geopolitical studies can be identified based on the above factors of influence.
1. Marine geopolitics studies the influence of the marine environment on national foreign policies. In Russia, a country bordering three oceans, as well as waters that lack internationally recognised national borders (the Caspian Sea, the Arctic borders), this area of geopolitical thought has special relevance. Although the geographical academic community has, for obvious reasons, always paid attention to the neighbouring territorial waters, this connection has been emphasised only by A. P. Alkhimenko [14] and V. A. Brylev [15].
2. Ethnic geopolitics investigates the effect of the ethnic and religious makeup on public policies and, by extension, world politics. In Russia, the most acute ethnicity-related geopolitical problems are observed in border regions with a high proportion of Muslim believers. Therefore, such geographical studies focus on post-Soviet states (D. Teurtrie [16]) and the South of Russia (A. S. Gevondyan [17], D. I. Isamutdinov [18], and others). An emerging area of geographical studies is research into the national language as a mechanism for creating a sphere of influence. In the context of Russia, this issue has been approached by V. N. Kholina [19] and others.
3. The considerable effect of the economic factors on foreign policy spurred the development of the geoeconomic area of geopolitical studies. Although in Russia it emerged within economics, geoeconomic ideas have become a natural part of geographical research. They have been promoted by Yu. N. Gladky [20], S. S. Lachininsky [21], L. A. Bezrukov [22], and others. At the same time, the economic factors affecting the foreign policies of many states include the energy component. Here, Russia is no exception. This gives rise to energy geopolitics, which investigates the effect of energy resources on public policies and world politics. M. G. Zhuglinsky [23], A. V. Kramarenko, and other researchers have contributed to this field of research. The influence of the transport of energy on relations between neighbouring states is in the focus of transport geopolitics. Studying the role of transport in the formation of the system of international relations, this area is relevant for post-Soviet countries. This aspect has been addressed by V. L. Baburin [25], L. A. Bezrukov [22], N. A. Grudtsyn [26], T. I. Pototskaya [27], B. L. Radnaev [28], and others. Recent works by A. G. Druzhinin and N. V. Gontar [29], A. B. Shvets, and others have investigated the mutual effect of the tourism and recreation industry on relations between Russia and other countries.
4. The ecological factor has a significant effect on relations between states. Therefore, the relevant area of ecopolitics is not to be ignored. However, the territorial scope of these studies is often reduced to the eco-logical policy of the Russian Federation and its regions. An important work in this area is the monograph by D. A. Markelov, B. I. Kochurov, Yu. N. Golubchikova et al. [31].
5. Beyond geographical studies lies research in the geopolitics of conflicts. It is among the most popular areas of geopolitics since any analysis of conflicts is perceived as geopolitical. Geopolitics of conflicts focuses on the most conflict-ridden regions of the world. Most Russian works in this area are dedicated to conflict zones in Eurasia: the Balkans, the Near and Middle East, East Asia, South Asia, the Arctic, and the post-Soviet space. Conflicts have always been an important part of political geographical research in Russia. Particularly, they have been addressed by D. V. Zayats [32], A. V. Krotov [33], and A Yu. Erkov [34]. An attempt to systematise all Russian studies into political conflicts inspired N. S. Mironenko [35] to identify a new research area -political geoconflict studies.
6. Media geopolitics is the youngest area of geopolitics. It considers the mass media as the central factor affecting public policies. In Russia, it is being developed by sociologists and political scientists. The geographic community has made the very first steps so far towards grasping this phenomenon. The article by V. N. Egoshin [36] testifies to this fact.
The fourth area comprises comprehensive geopolitical studies of territories of different levels. As a rule, these works take into account the effect of the properties of a territory on the policies of the state located within it. These studies analyse either the geopolitical location of a territory or the geopolitical interests of a state. Based on the territorial scope of these works, they can be grouped as follows.
Global geopolitics is, traditionally, the most developed area of geopolitics in the national schools of thought in 'great powers'. Russia is no exception. This area shapes the national worldview (ideology), which, in its turn, affects the foreign and domestic policy of a state and the development of geopolitics in general. In Russia, the first works of this kind appeared in the mid-1990s. They relied on a generalised 'geopolitical worldview', popularised geopolitical knowledge, and made it available to a wider audience. All this made those books bestsellers. However, there were no geographical works among them.
The first area of geopolitical thought to develop in modern Russia immediately after the disintegration of the USSR was the geopolitics of the post-Soviet space. Despite a variety of approaches to identifying the boundaries of this region, most studies into its constituent countries are carried out in view of their common history, close economic and social ties, connections among the political elites, similar political, economic, and social problems of transition, Russia's leading role as the successor state to the USSR and the related integration and disintegration processes in the regions, the strategic importance of the territory for the security of Russia's borders, etc. Alongside works examining the post-Soviet space as a single geopolitical entity, there are many studies into individual geopolitical regions within this territory. Particularly, the Baltic region has been investigated by V. A. Kolosov and N. A. Brodulina [37], the Western region by I. V. Mitrofanova and L. A. Kotova [38], and the Central Asian region by Yu. V. Dvornikov [39].
There is comprehensive bibliography on the geopolitics of Russia. This area brings together experts in all the sciences studying geopolitical phenomena, on the one hand, and politicians and public figures striving to identify the place of Russia in world politics and Eurasia, on the other. This research area accounts for most geographical works. They focus, firstly, on the effect of the geographical location of Russia on its foreign policy. The most significant works (those by A. G. Druzhinin [40], L. M. Korytny [42], N. S. Mironenko [42]) scrutinise the idea of Eurasianism. Secondly, they investigate the formation and evolution of the geopolitical position of Russia. Here, the most prominent authors are V. L. Baburin [43], Yu. N. Gladkiy [44], V. A. Kolosov and R. F. Turovsky [45], N. S. Mironenko, P Yu. Fomichev [46], T. I. Pototskaya [1], A. I. Treivish [47], V. A. Shuper [48]. Thirdly, works on the geopolitics of Russia address relations between this country and the states of neighbouring regions. It is worth noting the works by A. B. Andreev [49], S. V. Artemenko and I. L. Fedorov [50], E. E. Borichevskaya [51], and A. G. Druzhinin [52].
The domestic geopolitics of Russia is among the least methodologically developed areas of Russian geopolitics. At first, the most interesting theoretical ideas were proposed in the works of A. G. Dugin. However, they were not developed further. Most works in the field focus either on practical efforts to preserve the territorial integrity of the state or on the geopolitical position of various, primarily border, regions of Russia (once again, this is the domain of geography). The Kaliningrad region has been studied by I. S. Gumenyuk and Yu. M. Zverev [53] and G. M. Fedorov [54], the western regions of Russia by A. G. Manakov [55], the South of Russia by A. G. Druzhinin [56], A. S. Gevondyan [17], D. I. Isamutdinov [18], V. A. Kolosov, A. B. Sebentsov [57], L. A. Kotova [58], Siberia and the Far East by A. B. Andreev, P. Ya. Baklanov, M. T. Romanov [59], S. V. Pisarenko [60].
Comprehensive geopolitical studies include the recent area of critical geopolitics. It focuses on the mechanism for the formation of a global geopolitical vision by the population of territories of any (from local to global) level, which may once become a foundation for the foreign policy of their state. This school of thought is being developed at the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences by V. A. Kolosov, M. V. Zotov, N. A. Brodulina, A. B. Sebentsov [37; 57; 61; 62], at MGIMO University by I.Yu. Okunev, and at Moscow State University by R. Yu. Batishchev. O. I. Lyakhovenko, and others. Having emerged at the interface with cultural geography and media geopolitics, critical geopolitics often employs the techniques that originated in these fields.
Although the above division of academic geopolitical studies into categories is objective, it remains notional. Obviously, almost any monograph on global geopolitics includes sections on the geopolitics of different world regions (including Russia and the post-Soviet space). As a rule, these territories are the most conflict-ridden, i. e. they are the domain of the geopolitics of conflicts. Since the determination of any, especially geopolitical, conflict is a multi-faceted process, such a study may be classified as a work in military geopolitics, ethnic geopolitics, etc. Vice versa, a research work focusing on industry-specific geopolitical areas (media geopolitics, marine geopolitics, etc.) may include sections dedicated to concrete territories of different levels: global, district, or local ones.

Conclusion
Our analysis suggests the following.  In Russia, the body of modern geopolitics literature comprises works by political scientists, philosophers, historians, economists, sociologists, lawyers, geographers, and other experts.
 Geography is making a very modest contribution to Russian geopolitics. Geographers have authored only 3 % of works in geopolitics (dissertations, books, journal articles).
 Russian scientists tend to publish their geopolitics studies in economic and political science rather than geographical eLIBRARY-and Scopus-indexed journals. The selected Scopus-indexed journals in geography outperform those in political science and economics in scientometric terms.
 The most visible contribution of geographers is to educational resources (9 % of the total number of textbooks on geopolitics published in Russia).
 Geographical geopolitical studies rely both on a geographical understanding of the classical theoretical legacy of geopolitics and on recent methodological frameworks.
 Geographical works are present in all areas of geopolitics identified based on the effect of a certain territorial feature on the foreign policy of the corresponding states. These are marine geopolitics, ethnic geo-politics, geoeconomics, ecopolitics, the geopolitics of conflicts, and media geopolitics. Geoeconomics and ethnic geopolitics account for most of these works.
 Geography focuses on comprehensive geopolitical studies into territories of different levels. These works examine the aggregate effect of the properties of a territory on the policies of the state located within it. Most of these contributions consider the geopolitical position of a territory and the geopolitical interests of states and identify the mechanisms behind the geopolitical vision of the population.
We would like to stress that, regardless of the selected territorial level or factor, geopolitics should be part of academic economic and geographical mainstream rather than its underground. However, this will require geographers to articulate the connection of their works with not only political geography but also geopolitics.