8. Russian Foreign Policy: Challenging the Western

Responding to a Resurgent Russia: Russian Policy and Responses from the European Union and the United States, 2011

As Russia reasserts itself in an international system still governed by a “Western” conception of order drawn from liberal models of capitalism and democracy, how are the European Union and the United States responding to this re-emerging power? This is the question that we attempt to tackle in the conclusion to this volume; its answer has important implications for the viability of the current international economic and political order.

2020

This volume seeks to explore Russia’s perceptions of the changing international system in the twenty-first century and evaluate the determinants of Russian motives, roles and strategies towards a number of contemporary regional and global issues. The chapters of the volume discuss various aspects of Russian foreign policy with regard to key actors like the U.S., EU and China; international organizations such as the BRICS, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Eurasian Economic Union and Collective Security Treaty Organization; and a number of regional conflicts including Ukraine and Syria. The contributors seek to understand how the discourses of “anti-Westernism” and “post-Westernism” are employed in the redefinition of Russia’s relations with the other actors of the international system and how Russia perceives the concept of “regional hegemony,” particularly in the former Soviet space and the Middle East.

Pakistan Horizon, 2022

Russia has re-emerged as an important global actor after the demise of the Soviet Union with a transformed foreign policy under the leadership of Vladimir Putin who does not believe in restricting Russia to a sphere of privileged interests in its immediate periphery and is refusing to accept the post-Cold War security order in Europe. Russian foreign policy has been building up to its present expansive stage for over two decades as a continuity of its history, geopolitical position and trends of the Soviet era which have withstood the test of time. The US and the West's refusal to accept Russia as a competitor in global affairs has turned into a systematic challenge to the primacy that the US and EU have enjoyed since the end of the Cold War. Russia, despite the prevalent economic challenges will continue to position itself as an independent centre of power on the world stage towards the development of a multipolar world, possibly even in the post-Putin era. This paper focuses on Russian history, foreign policy, leadership and its perceived uneasy relations with the West in the above-mentioned perspective and was written before the Ukraine war.

Palgrave Macmillan, 2019

This volume seeks to explore Russia’s perceptions of the changing international system in the twenty-first century and evaluate the determinants of Russian motives, roles and strategies towards a number of contemporary regional and global issues. The chapters of the volume discuss various aspects of Russian foreign policy with regard to key actors like the U.S., EU and China; international organizations such as the BRICS, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Eurasian Economic Union and Collective Security Treaty Organization; and a number of regional conflicts including Ukraine and Syria. The contributors seek to understand how the discourses of “anti-Westernism” and “post-Westernism” are employed in the redefinition of Russia’s relations with the other actors of the international system and how Russia perceives the concept of “regional hegemony,” particularly in the former Soviet space and the Middle East.

2017

Politeja, 2019

This article focuses on Russia's attempts to revise a West-led liberal world order. However, challenging the West seems to be a strategy aimed at improving Russia's international standing. This strategy is undoubtedly ambiguous as Russia looks for a rapprochement, particularly with the United States at the same time. The Russian Federation abandoned the West in 2014 as a result of the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula what constituted breaking international law, and engagement in the war in East Ukraine. Nevertheless, the milestone was not 2014, but 2008 when Russia had decided for the first time to use its military force against Georgia and indirectly against the growing Western military and political presence in this post-Soviet republic. This game changer was hardly a surprise, because several signals of a desire to challenge the West-led world order had appeared in the past at least twice in President Putin's speeches in 2007 at the Munich Security Conference and in 2014 during the Valdai Club session in Sochi. This article seeks to provide a perspective in the discussion about the way Russia has been trying to reshape the post-Cold War order. It probes the notion that Russia has become a revisionist state trying to shape a post-Western world order. Besides, there are a few questions to be answered, first of all whether anti-Westernism is in fact its goal or rather an instrument in regaining more effective impact on international politics and how it may influence the post-Cold War order despite its reduced political and economic potential.

2012

Abstract Russia has historically strived to bridge principles of multilateral decision making with those of multipolar balance of power. Not infrequently, Russia's efforts to maximize power have been a response to failed attempts of entering Western-centered international arrangements, such as NATO and the European Union. Independently of those efforts, Russia also has sought to preserve the capabilities of a regional great power essential for securing its border and meeting other security challenges.

Politeja No. 5(62), 2019, pp. 161-174, 2019

Russia has became a revisionist power. Challenging the West seems to be a strategy aimed at improving Russia’s international standing, however. This strategy is undoubtedly ambiguous as Russia challenges the West, particularity the United States, and looks for a rapprochement at the same time. The Russian Federation abandoned the West in 2014 as a result of a annexation of the Crimean Peninsula what was a breaking of international low, and engagement into the war in the East Ukraine. Nevertheless 2014 was not a milestone, but 2008 when Russia had decided for the first time to use its military force against Georgia and indirectly against a growing Western military and political presence in this post-Soviet republic. This game changer was rather not a surprise, because several signals of a desire to challenge the Western-led word order had appeared in the past at least twice in president Putin’s speeches in 2007 in Munich Security Conference and in 2014 during Valdai Club session in Sochi. This article seeks to provide a take in a discussion about the way Russia has been trying to reshape the post-Cold War order. This paper probes the notion that Russia became a revisionist state trying to shape a post-Western world order. Besides there are a few questions to be answered, first of all whether anti-Westernism is in fact a goal or rather an instrument in regaining more effective impact on the international politics and how it is able to influence the post-Cold War order despite its reduced political and economic potential?

2017