Relations with the US from Gorbachev to Putin: A Strategy for a Weakened Russian State.

摘要

This thesis therefore will examine Russia's foreign policy within the context of its current weakness and show that despite these arguments about inconsistency, there actually has been a fairly consistent strategy in the new Russian state's foreign policy. Furthermore, this thesis will argue that this strategy does not only apply to the post-Soviet period, but was actually developed under Gorbachev as part of his 'new thinking'. Yeltsin and Putin have modified this strategy somewhat to adapt it to the new post Cold War environment, but as this thesis will argue, even with these modifications neither leader lost touch with Gorbachev's original foreign policy goal of strengthening Russia's economy and diplomatic standing through international cooperation, most notably with the West.