The Sources of Russian Foreign Policy Assertiveness

This book explores the sources of Russia's foreign policy conduct in the thirty years after the end of the Cold War. It is aimed at those interested in Russian foreign policy, and scholars and students working on international security, foreign policy and diplomacy.

The book embraces an eclectic approach by applying insights from several strands of IR theory, and suggests an explanation of Russian foreign policy that combines both international and domestic contexts. The author argues that Russian foreign policy is influenced by the country's strategic culture, which exhibits some persistent elements inherited from Russia's imperial past and from Soviet times. The strategic culture further includes elements of innovation that emerged as a response to the new international environment. The change in Russia's perception of the international environment is at the heart of its evolving foreign policy. Russia's rejection of the unipolar world order led to the country's commitment to Eurasian integration and alignment with China.

The book further argues that Russia's relations with the post-Soviet states have been and will remain a focus of its foreign relations and, therefore, Western interference in these states is among the sources of Russia-West tensions. Additionally, the economic factors and the protection of overseas economic interests play an important role in Russia's foreign policy calculus. The book also examines popular claims on the importance of domestic factors in the country's foreign policy, such as authoritarianism, regime vulnerability, and the role of factions.