Rethinking the National Interest: Putin's Turn in Russian Foreign Policy; The Marshall Center paper no. 6

摘要

The paper examines the historical and political roots behind a transformation in Russian foreign policy undertaken by President Vladimir Putin in the wake of the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001. Putin, the first foreign leader to voice support for the United States, proceeded to forge a new strategic relationship with the US and embarked on a wider policy of rapprochement with the West. Since then, Russia's initial, unequivocal support for the US has been compromised by disagreements over the war in Iraq. Yet, current Russian foreign policy is vastly different from the previous decade's in that, using the opportunity and the rhetoric of the war on terrorism, it has made a normative choice in favor of Westernization and in favor of a strategic partnership with the United States and Europe. The paper posits that the realignment in Russian foreign and security policy is revolutionary and has lasting value. This is neither an ad hoc marriage of convenience nor a policy of playing a weaker hand, but a profound reappraisal of Russia's national interests and place in the world, defying centuries-old imperial paradigms. In order to appreciate the magnitude of this change, one has to look beyond the Putin presidency and transformations of the past decade into the historical roots of Russian statehood and foreign policy.