Testing the world order: strategic realism in Russian foreign affairs

Abstract

Russian actions since 2007 appear increasingly to constitute a realist approach to international affairs. Russia appears to be behaving as a rising power, attempting to become a regional or global superpower. Essential to this pursuit, a state must gather information strategically. We examine one feature of strategic information gathering, called a test, a state action that asserts power but also garners information as it elicits a global response. Through a test framework, we provide a realist explanation to understanding Russia’s foreign affairs and its pursuit of power in the near abroad, Western Europe, Middle East, Asia, and foreign elections.

Technology in Russian Strategic Culture From the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day

“…From a more general perspective, the contribution of this book to International Relations and Strategic Studies literature lies in demonstrating the insufficiency of the neorealist school of thought to grasp the catch-up character of military-technological innovation in Russia. Realist explanations of Russian behaviour have arguably been most common in Western literature (e. g Lynch 2001;D'Anieri 2019;Feinstein and Pirro 2021;Tsygankov 2022). However, this approach has its shortcomings and this book demonstrated them in the example of the Russian approach to military-technological innovation.…”

Puti̇n Ve Medvedev’i̇n Diş Poli̇ti̇kalarinin Karşilaştirmali Anali̇zi̇: Suri̇ye Ve Li̇bya Örneği̇

“…For example, Mearsheimer argues that Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 was simply an attempt to counter the NATO enlargement (Mearsheimer, 2014, p. 78). It is possible to give more examples of this line of thinking from the literature (Lynch, 2011;Feinstein and Pirro, 2021). Realism provides a simple explanation for the changes in foreign policy strategies of different states based on the changes in balance of power.…”

Russia in Latin America: Why support Venezuela in a crisis?

“…Moreover, numerous possible theoretical paradigms have explained the dynamic character of the foreign policy of Russia over the last few years. On the one hand, “structural explanations for Russian foreign policy” (Roberts, 2017, p. 28) are dominant within the discipline of IR, holding that geopolitics and balance of power considerations explain Russian foreign policy (Feinstein and Pirro, 2021). According to these perspectives, traditional geostrategic thought on territorial claims, interests and military activities is part and parcel of Russian foreign policy doctrine (Feinstein and Pirro, 2021).…”

“…On the one hand, “structural explanations for Russian foreign policy” (Roberts, 2017, p. 28) are dominant within the discipline of IR, holding that geopolitics and balance of power considerations explain Russian foreign policy (Feinstein and Pirro, 2021). According to these perspectives, traditional geostrategic thought on territorial claims, interests and military activities is part and parcel of Russian foreign policy doctrine (Feinstein and Pirro, 2021). On the other hand, constructivist approaches assert that “structural explanations for Russian foreign policy” (Roberts, 2017, p. 28) do not adequately consider the critical role ideas and beliefs play in Russian President Putin's foreign policy narrative.…”