Transitional times. Russian agency and international intervention
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14422/cir.i03.y2015.007Keywords:
Russia, international intervention, Foreign Policy Analysis, post-modernity, sovereignty, agency-structureAbstract
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.
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