Change and Continuity in Russia's Foreign Policy

Author(s): Andrei P Tsygankov
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Aglaya Snetkov, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 109
Pages: 9-11
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen; Institute of History, University of Basel
Publication Year: 2012

Since its emergence as an independent centralized state, Russia has followed three distinct foreign policy trajectories. It frequently sided with a coalition of Western states against those whom it viewed as threatening its interests and values. The second trajectory was that of defensiveness or balancing through domestic revival and flexible international alliances. Finally, Russia has historically resorted to assertiveness or unilateral promotion of its foreign policy objectives abroad. The paper reviews the central forces behind Russia's policy and its fluctuations after the Soviet breakup.

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