Russian “Classic” IR Theories

Abstract

This chapter explores how various Russian IR schools evolved in the post-Soviet era. Starting from debate between the “Atlanticists” and “Eurasianists” of the early 1990s, the Russian foreign policy discourse has gradually developed to the world-like IR intellectual landscape that includes well-known paradigms, such as neorealism, neoliberalism, and globalism. As a result, Russian IR schools have intellectual roots in both national and international political thought. It is shown how different IR schools interpret Russia’s national interests, the most important problems of international relations, trends of world policy, and their vision of the optimal trajectory of Russia’s foreign policy. This chapter also demonstrates that all three Russian main IR paradigms – neorealism, neoliberalism, and globalism – now tend to build dialogue and not just confront each other.