Russia’s Foreign Policy and Strategic Culture: A Dialogue with William Wohlforth about the Research Paradigm

Abstract

This article contains a talk between Andrey Sushentsov, head of the MGIMO University Institute for International Studies and Professor William Wohlforth, a leading American international relations theorist and one of the founders of neoclassical realism. Having received his PhD in Yale, Wohlforth began his career as a specialist on Russia. One of his key works is the study of the driving forces behind the foreign policy of early USSR. His studies have also focused on the issue of the global balance of power and superpower dynamics. Overall, Wohlforth has authored or edited nine books and some 60 articles or chapters on a wide range of topics from US foreign policy strategy to the Cold War. Thus, the changes in Russian foreign policy and its global influence have always remained in the focus of Wohlforth’s attention. Wohlforth is currently a member of the Department of Government at Dartmouth College, mainly teaching and researching international security and foreign policy issues. Since 2018, he has been in charge of the Laboratory of International Trends Analysis at MGIMO which carries out applied research in the field of international issues. The talk considers issues concerning the strategic culture of Russian policy, focusing on the biographic and academic foundations of the scholar’s interest in Russia, and his collaboration with Russian specialists.