Russian Great Power Foreign Policy

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The Foreign Policy concepts reflect the objectives and aims concerning the way the country views the world around. The concept deals with the analysis and evaluation of the global situation and strategy according to the geopolitical conditions. Being one of the most powerful countries in the world, Russia faced a lot of significant issues that had an impressive effect on their foreign policy during the twentieth century.

The unsuccessful attempt to create a communistic society influenced the way the country developed the international relationships. However, it should be stated that the politics cannot be considered as a separate phenomenon as it is always connected to the evolution of the country. Although the Russian foreign policy cannot be compared to the Soviet period, the similarities still exist and should be taken into account while analyzing the diplomacy of the country.

It is important to understand that the diplomatic tradition is considered to be the unchangeable unity of the internal and external aspects of the varying politics that has a significant impact on the development of the foreign policy (Sharp 2009, 93). The diplomatic tradition seems to be an essential element of forming the foreign policy, and that is, should be taken into account while analyzing and evaluating the main concerns of it. The deeper involvement in the issue will provide an understanding of how Russia develops and forms relationships with other countries. According to Alfred Rieber, the history of diplomacy in Russia is full of historical fiction. Winston Churchill, the British statesman, once stated that the actions and the behavior of the Soviet Union are unpredictable (Tsygankov 2010, p. 10). The points of view according to the orientations of the diplomacy in Russia are commonly argued between scholars.

The evident facts support the idea that the Russian foreign policy is based on the aggressive behavior, and the expansion can be considered as the core term describing the external affairs. The Cold War period was characterized by the confrontations of the ideology of the West and Russia as the anti-communist movement was widespread during that historical period.

The formation of the foreign policy in Russia was affected by the following structural elements that can be considered as unchangeable, namely the geographical capacity, modernization, imperial intentions, and civilization (Yang 2011, 28). To analyze the foreign tradition in Russia one should make an accent on the stated above factors and get better involved in the understanding of the structural elements. First of all, it should be pointed out that Russia has a lot of advantages concerning the geographical position as the rivers, good soil, mountains, and forests can be viewed as a great power in the industry development. Such benefits influenced the political ideology, diplomacy, and external affairs (Yang 2011, 28).

Furthermore, it should be stressed that Russia faced difficulties in communication with the Western world for hundreds of years. The diplomatic orientation suffers from the differences in points of view of people belonging to various classes concerning the future, politics, ideology, and religious beliefs. Such cleavage affects the way the country develops and improves. The pivotal issue of Russian history is that the country experienced a lot of socio-economic changes and regimes and that spread differences within society. The population consists of various religious, cultural, geographical groups. The imperial intentions caused a lot of conflicts between the members of the Soviet Union. It should be highlighted that some confrontations are still not solved and can be described as frozen ones (Yang 2011, 28).

The issue concerning the belonging of Russia to the Asian or Western World seems to be never answered. Owing to the geographical position the territory of the powerful country comprises Asia and West. The religious groups are represented by Islam and Christianity. The leaders of the country struggled with the choice of the appropriate ideology, philosophy, and cultural features that will satisfy the whole population and will beneficially influence the county’s improvement process and unite people.

The stated above peculiarities in Russian history and development affected the way the leaders developed the foreign policy tradition. It is significant to highlight that the impressiveness of the territory became a guiding power in the development of foreign affairs. The leaders aimed to expand the territory of the country to the West as that would stable the security condition. The vast majority of historians believe that the numerous invasions of the Russian territory (for example Napoleon’s aggression or the period of the Second World War) were the reason for Russians to implement the aggressive strategy (Yang 2011, 28). However, it is undeniable that being an enormous country Russia still faces the same threats just as centuries ago because present geopolitical issues with the West affect the country.

One of the major bases of the diplomacy in Russia is to be protected from the modernization competition. Rejecting the West experience; the country faces certain difficulties that could be omitted. During the historical development, Russia commonly exchanged the territory for the time. The October Revolution was successful and consequently led to the spread of the socialistic regime (Marot 2012, p. 33).

The tense atmosphere during the First World War was turned into an advantage by the leaders of the Soviet Union as they started negotiations with the Germany, lost the certain territories, however, gained the needed time for the improvement and development (Yang 2011, 29). It should be pointed out that such an exchange was not the last one in the history of Russia. Offering the oil to Germany, Stalin won two years of the buffering zone during the outbreak of the Second World War.

One of the pivotal objectives of the foreign policy in Russia is to catch up with the West. The major opponents are Europe and the United States. The failed attempts to connect Russia with the Western by Gorbachev and Yeltsin gave a chance to develop the external affair with China (Voskressenski 2013, p. 100). Gaining power, Russia intends to question the American hegemony. It should be pointed out that the significant role of Russia while solving hot conflicts becomes more and more evident. It proves that the foreign policy tradition affects the country’s intention to become the leading power in the world’s arena.

In conclusion, it should be highlighted that the foreign policy tradition depends on the historical events and decisions made by the government. Although Russia changed some political orientations, there are still many similarities in the formation of the diplomacy can be found between the Soviet and Cold War era. The tension between the Western world and Russia, the rising nationalism, the dramatic differences in the point of view influenced the way of country’s development and improvement.

References

Marot, John. The October Revolution in Prospect and Retrospect Interventions in Russian and Soviet History. Danvers, MA: Brill, 2012.

Rieber, Alfred. Stalin and the Struggle for Supremacy in Eurasia. Cambridge, U. K.: Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Sharp, Paul. Diplomatic Theory of International Relations. Cambridge, U. K.: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Tsygankov, Andrei. Russia’s Foreign Policy Change and Continuity in National Identity. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010.

Voskressenski, Alexei. Russia and China: A Theory of Inter-State Relations. New York, NY: Routledge, 2013.

Yang, Cheng. “The Power of Diplomatic Traditions: Understanding the Logic of Russian Foreign Policy in the Post-Soviet Era.” Eurasian Rewiev, 2011, 25-40.

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Russian Great Power Foreign Policy

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