Westernism, Eurasianism and Pragmatism: The Foreign Policies of the Post-Soviet States, 1991–2001

Abstract

This chapter will ask what we have learned about how, and to what extent, the 15 former Soviet republics, after the sudden collapse of the USSR, broke from the imperial nexus and the Soviet legacy in the field of foreign policy. How did they succeed in creating functioning and professional ministries of foreign affairs and diplomatic services, and begin to define their own national interests and concepts of foreign policy? What orientations and divisions did they have, and how successful were they in achieving them in the first ten years, from 1991 to 2001? How did their policies change, as a result of political struggles at home and developments in the international environment?1