RUSSIA BETWEEN EAST AND WEST: RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

A mere decade ago the collapse of the Soviet Empire was hailed by some in euphoric terms as the ‘end of history’. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the lifting of the ‘Iron Curtain’ and the withering away of Communist ideology had evoked tremendous hopes for a unified Europe – a region which now also encompassed the East, including a democratic and economically reformed Russia.

This volume of essays dwells on the challenge facing Russia in establishing its new identity, which will have a direct bearing on the course of its foreign policy in the future. The book unravels President Putin’s efforts to re-establish Russia’s position as a major power, attempting to reconcile Russia’s traditional national interests with the newly emerging social and political entity taking shape at home. The book’s analysis of Russia’s role in various conflict regions – the Balkans, Chechnya, the Middle East and China – demonstrates how this process is being affected by various constraints, particularly those imposed by the exigencies of a diffused ‘New World Order’, in which contradictory forces, such as globalization, regionalism and US unilateralism, seem to reign supreme, especially in light of the events of 11 September 2001.