Understandings of Russian Foreign Policy

Scholars from Asia, Europe, and North America working with the support of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs combine their efforts to bring us new insights into how Russia has conducted its foreign affairs since the fall of Communism. Drawing on both archival sources and interviews, they cover such major issues as Russia's decision to use military force in Chechnya, its reactions to NATO expansion, and its emergent relations with Japan and East Asia. The contributors are Eunsook Chung, Henrikki Heikka, Ted Hopf, Andrea Lopez, Hiroshi Kimura, Sergei Medvedev, and Christer Pursiainen.

“This volume represents an important contribution to theoretical discussion in the field of international relations as well as to the study of contemporary Russian foreign policy. Under the capable editorship of Ted Hopf, an international group of younger scholars pushes forward the bounds of theoretical innovation, with approaches ranging from Lacanian psychoanalysis to novel spatial-cultural frameworks of sweeping historical research. More conventional approaches, such as constructivism and theories of the ‘democratic peace,’ receive thoughtful treatments and application to important empirical cases, including the Chechen war and Russian behavior in the ‘near abroad.’ Scholars interested in cutting-edge international-relations theory will welcome this volume. It will be particularly valuable as a text in a theoretically oriented graduate seminar on the international relations of the post-Soviet region.”—Matthew Evangelista, Cornell University

“Prepared by scholars from Europe, Asia, and North America, this volume covers a number of significant issues of Russian foreign policy, using various approaches to world affairs. It constitutes a major contribution to our understanding of Russian foreign policy.”—Yury Polsky, Russian Review

Ted Hopf is Visiting Associate Professor of Methodology and International Relations in the Department of Political Science at Ohio University. He is the author of Peripheral Visions: Deterrence Theory and American Foreign Policy in the Third World, 1965–1990 (1994).

History

           European

           Russian & East European

Political Science

           Twentieth-century