Abstract
The purpose of this article is to provide a critical approach to Russia’s new policy of alliance with its dominant religion that is embodied in the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), which Russia has thus far embraced to fight terrorism and extremism in the Middle East and to determine the extent to which religion stands with politics in Russia’s foreign policy. Syria is taken as a case study and as an eminent example of Russia’s anti-terror front strategy. The main argument of the paper is that Russia’s leading role on the anti-terror front in the Middle East is a security-oriented and national identity-founded strategy under the pretext of fighting terrorism, while it looks forward to being a dominant power in regional, then world affairs. It finds that Russia employs the ROC in political terms as a soft power tool for promoting its foreign policy, as a way to achieve its national interests and to guarantee its national security.
Highlights
Religion clearly contributes to the shaping of states’ foreign policies and international relations
One must question why and how the Orthodox Church declared its supportive position to the War on Terrorism and consider it as a holy war, and how Russian leaders take this declaration as an opportunity to guarantee Russian national security against international threats while extending its sphere of influence and finding a new geopolitical milieu in world politics
In a process of democratization shaped by political engagement in post-communist Russia, religion and the Orthodox Church took their place in foreign policy decisions and were brought up in political operations, engaging in acts which might influence the operations of the political system and its foreign policy to intervene in various external issues in searching of its national interests
Summary
Religion clearly contributes to the shaping of states’ foreign policies and international relations. This article is critically aiming at determining the extent to which religion, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) leadership, influences the decision-making process of Russia’s foreign policy. It studies the real relationship between Russia’s foreign policy and the ROC. One must question why and how the Orthodox Church declared its supportive position to the War on Terrorism and consider it as a holy war, and how Russian leaders take this declaration as an opportunity to guarantee Russian national security against international threats while extending its sphere of influence and finding a new geopolitical milieu in world politics. Soft diplomacy refers to when NGOs (as religious institutions) promote relationships with other peer groups from all over the globe, which helping improve the image of their country. Laine and Saarelainen (2017) argue that the Russian officials and the Russian Orthodox Church have both internally and externally used spiritual aspects in their public diplomacy (For further findings see: Curanovic, 2012; Tserpitskaya, 2005; Pavlovich, 2007)
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