Transitional times. Russian agency and international intervention

Authors

  • Maxine David University of Surrey

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14422/cir.i03.y2015.007

Keywords:

Russia, international intervention, Foreign Policy Analysis, post-modernity, sovereignty, agency-structure

Abstract

Since the Russian annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the ongoing Ukraine conflict, speculation has been rife about the likely direction of Russia’s foreign policy and its relations with the West. Relatively little analysis has so far situated Russia’s actions in a wider context of debate about international intervention and post-modern values. This article seeks to achieve this. Relying on insights from Foreign Policy Analysis in relation to agency-structure debates, it argues that Russia’s recent actions have to be seen as a response to longer developments in relation to international intervention. Additionally, it focuses on the need to recognise the impact of units on systemic structures and thus contributes to the literature on the agency-structure relationship. The article situates Russia’s foreign policy in the wider context of modern versus post-modern thinking, arguing that the primary driver of Russian foreign policy today is to ensure the international system that finally emerges after the transition from Cold War structures is a reformed one in which Russia has a say and in which firm principles of international law and order are established and maintained.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

BBC. (2015). EU warning over Russia “land grab” in South Ossetia border row. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33549462

Blair, T. (1999). Doctrine of the International Community. The official site of the Prime Minister’s Office. Retrieved from http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/www.number10.gov.uk/Page1297

Bradshaw, N. F. Lt. Cdr. (Retd). (1999, June). The Legality of NATO’s Attack on Serbia, 1999. Camberley: Conflict Studies Research Centre.

Bush, G. H. W. (1991). Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union January 29, 1991. The Presidency Project. Retrieved from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19253

Caporaso, J. A. (1996). The European Union and Forms of State: Westphalian, Regulatory or Post-Modern? Journal of Common Market Studies, 34(1), pp. 29-52.

Cooper, R. (2000). The Post-Modern State and the World Order. Demos. Retrieved from http://www.demos.co.uk/files/postmodernstate.pdf?1240939425

Cooper, R. (2004). The Breaking of Nations. Order and Chaos in the Twenty First Century. London: Atlantic Books.

Danilovic, V. (2002). The Rational-Cognitive Debate and Poliheuristic Theory. In A. Mintz (Ed.), Integrating Cognitive and Rational Theories of Foreign Policy Decision Making (pp. 127-137). New York and Basingstoke, Hants: Palgrave Macmillan.

Fedorov, A. (1999, August 8). Novui Pragmatizm Vneshnei Politiki Rossii. Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizn, Moskva, pp. 19–24.

Glennon, M. J. (2003). Why the Security Council Failed. Foreign Affairs. Vol. 82(3), pp. 16-35.

Hellevig, J. (2012, February 20). Putin’s transition is over. Modern Russia starts today. Pravda.ru. Retrieved from http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/20-02-2012/120553-putin_transition-0/

Hermann, C. F. (1995). Epilogue: Reflections on Foreign Policy Theory Building. In L. Neack, J. A. K. Hey & P. J. Haney (Eds.), Foreign Policy Analysis. Continuity and Change in Its Second Generation (pp. 243-257). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Holsti, K. J. (1970). National Role Conceptions in the Study of Foreign Policy. International Studies Quarterly, 14, pp. 233-309.

Hudson, V. M. (2005). Foreign Policy Analysis: Actor-Specific Theory and the Ground of International Relations. Foreign Policy Analysis, 1, pp. 1-30.

Ivanov, I. S. (2002). Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov Interview with the Newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Published on December 30, 2002, Under the Heading “Round the World with Igor Ivanov”. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Retrieved from http://archive.mid.ru//bdomp/brp_4.nsf/e78a48070f128a7b43256999005bcbb3/f1d26efd6c1f412d43256c9f00546849!OpenDocument

Konyshev, V. & Sergunin, A. (2014, August 11). Russian Views on the Ukraine’s [sic] Crisis. Valdai Club. Retrieved from http://valdaiclub.com/near_abroad/71040.html

Lavrov, S. (2012, September 28). Statement by Sergey Lavrov at 67th UN General Assembly. Voltairenet.org. Retrieved from http://www.voltairenet.org/article176053.html

March, J. G. & Olsen, J. P. (1998). The Institutional Dynamics of International Political Orders. International Organization, 52(4), pp. 943-969.

Mchedlishvili, G. (2015, July 20). West Will Rue ignoring Russia’s Moves into Georgia. Chatham House. Retrieved from http://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/westwill-rue-ignoring-russia-s-moves-georgia

Mearsheimer, J. J. (2014). Why the Ukraine Crisis is the West’s Fault. Foreign Affairs, September/October, pp. 1-12.

Medvedev, D. (2008). Transcript of the Meeting with the Participants in the International Club Valdai. President of Russia. Retrieved from http://archive.kremlin.ru/eng/text/speeches/2008/09/12/1644_type82912type82917type84779_206409.shtml

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. (2000). Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation. Retrieved from http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2000_05/dc3ma00

Mintz, A. (2002). Integrating Cognitive and Rational Theories of Foreign Policy Decision Making: a Poliheuristic Perspective. In A. Mintz (Ed.), Integrating Cognitive and Rational Theories of Foreign Policy Decision Making (pp. 1-9). New York and Basingstoke, Hants: Palgrave Macmillan.

Northedge, F. S. (1968). The Nature of Foreign Policy. In F. S. Northedge (Ed.), The Foreign Policies of the Powers (pp. 9-39). London: Faber and Faber.

OCHA. (2015). About the Crisis. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.unocha.org/syrian-arab-republic/syria-country-profile/about-crisis

O’Loughlin, J., Ó Tuathail, G. & Kolossov, V. (2004). A “Risky Westward Turn”? Putin’s 9–11 Script and Ordinary Russians. Europe-Asia Studies, 56(1), pp. 3-34.

Putin, V. (2015). News conference by Vladimir Putin following the BRICS and SCO summits. Kremlin.ru. Retrieved from http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/49909

Putin, V. (2007). Speech and the Following Discussion at the Munich Conference on Security Policy. President of Russia. Retrieved from http://archive.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2007/02/10/0138_type82912type82914type82917type84779_118123.shtml

Rosenau, J. N. (1966). Pre-theories and Theories and Foreign Policy. In B. R. Farrell (Ed.), Approaches to Comparative and International Politics. Evanston, Ill: Northwestern University Press.

Smith, M. (2003). The Framing of European Foreign and Security Policy: towards a Post-Modern Policy Framework? Journal of European Public Policy, 10(4), pp. 556-75.

Trainor, B. (1998). The Origin and End of Modernity, Journal of Applied Philosophy, 15(2), pp. 133-144.

Ulyanov, N. (1999, March 26). Protest Rossiyan Narastaet. Nezavisamaya Gazeta, 54(1870), pp. 1 & 3.

United Nations. (1998a). Security Council Demands All Parties End Hostilities and Maintain a Ceasefire In Kosovo. Security Council Press Release SC/6577, 23 September 1998. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/press/en/1998/19980923.sc6577.html

United Nations. (1998b). Security Council Demands Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Comply Fully with NATO and OSCE Verification Missions In Kosovo. Security Council Press Release SC/6588, 24 October 1998. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/press/en/1998/19981024.sc6588.html

Wallace, W. (1999). The Sharing of Sovereignty: the European Paradox. Political Studies, 47(3), pp. 503-521.

World Trade Organization. (2011). World Trade Report 2011. The WTO and Preferential Trade Agreements: From Co-Existence to Coherence. Retrieved from https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/anrep_e/world_trade_report11_e.pdf

Yeltsin, B. (1999). Na nashikh glazakh v Evrope Sozdan Kraine Opacnyi Pretsedent Reshwniia Konfliktnykh Situatsii – ne na osnove Ustava OON, Mezhdunarodnaia Prava, Printsipov i Norm OBSE, a na Osnove Primitivnogo “Prava Cily”. Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizn Moskva, 7, pp. 61–65.

Ziegler, C. E. (2012). Conceptualizing sovereignty in Russian foreign policy: Realist and constructivist perspectives. International Politics, 49(4), pp. 400-417.

Downloads

Published

2016-09-21

How to Cite

David, M. (2016). Transitional times. Russian agency and international intervention. Comillas Journal of International Relations, (3), 100–115. https://doi.org/10.14422/cir.i03.y2015.007

Issue

Section

Articles