Russia and the United States: On irritants, friction, and international order or what can we learn from Hedley Bull?

Abstract

In this article, I argue that the present low-point in US–Russian relations does not negate the existence of order between the two great powers. US–Russian relations remain remarkably orderly irrespective of the continued presence of irritants and points of friction in the relationship. That is the Russian Federation and the USA continue to conceive of each other as indispensable members of international society in, at the very least, the ‘pluralist’ sense of this concept. I empirically buttress this argument by way of a tour d’horizon of US–Russian relations during the administration of President Barack Obama, spanning, thereby, the administrations of presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin.