Explaining Change in Russian Foreign Policy

An assessment of the explanatory utility of different approaches to account for post-Soviet Russia's foreign policy towards the West, arguing that only by focusing both on external constraints and changes in the Russian leadership's foreign policy thinking can we explain major facets of Russia's conduct from 1992-2007.

CHRISTIAN THORUN writes on Russian foreign policy from his home in Berlin. He was a Cecil Rhodes Scholar and received his PhD in International Relations from the University of Oxford, UK. He now works as a policy advisor.