Russian Foreign Policy after the Cold War

This important new study, drawing primarily on Russian sources, analyzes Russian foreign policy in the context of an ongoing national identity crisis. The work examines Russia's foreign policy in terms of two salient factors: (1) political and economic reform, given that foreign policy has been strongly influenced by reactions—positive and negative—to Yeltsin's reform agenda; and (2) Russia's geopolitical predicament between Europe and Asia, between East and West, which requires it to reconcile various strategic imperatives with regard to NATO, China, and the Islamic world. Buszynski's study reveals current Russian foreign policy as a process of interaction between these two factors, the result being considerable vacillation between support for the West and opposition to it. An important analysis that will be of interest to foreign policy and international relations experts in academia and government.