Foreign Policy of Russia

Robert H. Donaldson is Trustees Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Tulsa. He was educated at Harvard University, and is past president of both the University of Tulsa and Fairleigh Dickinson University. He also has taught and held administrative positions at Lehman College of the City University of New York and Vanderbilt University, and served as International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations at the U.S. Department of State and as visiting research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. Professor Donaldson has written extensively on Soviet and Russian politics and foreign policy and has authored or co-authored five other books.Vidya Nadkarni is Professor of Political Science at the University of San Diego, where she has taught since 1990. She was educated at St. Xavier’s College, University of Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru University-New Delhi, and the University of British Columbia. Professor Nadkarni teaches courses in the area of international relations and foreign policy, and her research interests center on the foreign policies of resurgent (Russia) and aspiring (China, India) global powers. She is the author of Strategic Partnerships in Asia: Balancing without Alliances (2010) and co-editor of Emerging Powers in a Comparative Perspective: The Political and Economic Rise of the BRIC Countries (2012) and Challenge and Change: Global Threats and the State in the 21st Century (2016).

Praise for the Sixth EditionThe updated edition of this indispensable text offers students of politics and international relations, policy-makers, and the public a systematic, accessible, and even-handed discussion of Russian policy-making concerning relations with other states. Rooted by necessity in historical context from Tsarism up to early 2018, the book provides incisive, nuanced, and compelling analysis of changes and continuities in how Russian leaders perceive what is in their national interest and how they interpret and react to the actions of leaders elsewhere. Donaldson and Nadkarni offer a wise, timely contribution to debates about statecraft, soft power, pragmatism, East-West relations, and the role of cyber-crime.Mary Buckley, Hughes Hall, University of CambridgeDonaldson and Nadkarni’s text is the best around, encapsulating the best of American scholarship on Russia: It demonstrates a deep knowledge of Imperial, Soviet, and contemporary history, paired with a complex yet clear understanding of domestic realities’ role in foreign policy decision-making and implementation. The up-to-date sixth edition covers, for example, the Kremlin’s growing use of soft power and devotion to Eurasian (rather than European) economic integration. This book will be of great use to students, international relations professionals, and businesspeople interested in or implicated by Russian foreign policy.Stanislav L. Tkachenko, Saint Petersburg State UniversityThe Foreign Policy of Russia is a sober and accessible analysis for both students and researchers. This a rare opportunity to get a full review of the origins, incentives, and challenges of Putin’s controversial foreign policy.Andrei Kolesnikov, Carnegie Moscow CenterThis textbook will provide undergraduate students with an excellent foundation in understanding general tendencies in Russia’s external relationships over time as well as a coherent framework of analysis for exploring specific issues in greater depth through more specialized articles, book chapters, and monographs. In short, it is an ideal text for a survey course on Russian foreign policy or even for a more general course on international relations or comparative foreign policy that includes intensive attention to one or more of the great powers.Allen C. Lynch, University of Virginia

• Ch 1 Power, Polarity, and PersonalityCh 2 The Tsarist Roots of Russia’s Foreign PolicyCh 3 Soviet Foreign Policy: From Revolution to Cold WarCh 4 Soviet Foreign Policy: The Cold WarCh 5 Domestic Factors in the Making of Russia’s Foreign PolicyCh 6 Russia and the States of the Former Soviet UnionCh 7 Russia Faces West: Aspirations and ObstaclesCh 8 Russia and the "Non-West"Ch 9 Putin’s Quest for Partnership in a Multipolar WorldCh 10 Russia and the United States: A New Cold War?