Synopsis
Now fully updated, this widely respected text traces the lineage and development of Russian foreign policy with the insight that comes from historical perspective. The fifth edition incorporates new and fully updated coverage of issues including relations with the major powers and with other post-communist states, international security issues including arms control issues and grounds for sanctions and intervention, and domestic and regional issues related to natural resource politics, human rights, Islamism and terrorism.perspective. Chronologically organized chapters highlight the continuities of Russias behavior in the world since tsarist times as well as the major sources of change and variability over the revolutionary period, wartime alliances and cold war, dtente, the Soviet collapse, and the first post-communist decades. The fifth edition incorporates new and fully updated coverage of issues including relations with the major powers and with other post-communist states, international security issues including arms control issues and grounds for sanctions and intervention, and domestic and regional issues related to natural resource politics, human rights, Islamism and terrorism. New coauthor Vidya Nadkarni strengthens the books coverage of issues related to Asia. The basic framework used in the book is a modified realism that stresses the balance of power and the importance of national interest, and identifies several factors (both internal and external) that condition Russian policy. The interpretations are original and based on a mix of primary and secondary sources.
Reviews
Probably the best-known study of Russia's foreign policy is George F. Kennan's classic Russia and the West Under Lenin and Stalin (LJ 4/15/61). Political scientists Donaldson (Univ. of Tulsa) and Nogee (Univ. of Houston) broaden the focus of Kennan's classic work and offer a sweeping yet concise overview of Russia's role and behavior in international politics. Much of their book serves as background for the authors' chief task: to explain and anticipate the current foreign policy aims of the leaders of the Russian republic. They find a consistent pursuit of balance-of-power politics and military alliances by Russian leaders from tsarist times to the present. Seven key variables are put forth to explain the changing directions of Soviet foreign policy within the framework of an "international system." They cautiously conclude that the current "multipolar" environment might lead to a more cooperative approach by Russia's current leadersAalthough unpredictable personality traits are still a concern. This is a useful title for academic libraries.AThomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, PA
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