Instrument Of Foreign Policy Research Articles

Russian counter-sanctions and smuggling: Forensics with structural gravity estimation

Trade and other economic sanctions are a common foreign policy instrument, but their imposition may induce smuggling. We develop and implement procedures to study smuggling after the food embargo imposed by Russia on Western countries after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. We construct predicted trade flows for the post-sanctions period using an estimated structural general equilibrium gravity model with many industry sectors and compare those predictions with actual trade flows. We identify a substantial value of suspicious trade flows which we associate with smuggling; especially importing banned goods through third countries such as Belarus. The structural gravity model systematically under-predicts trade volumes for country-product combinations used as channels for smuggling of the banned goods. We identify a quantity of smuggling equivalent to approximately 11 to 17 percent of the pre-embargo trade flows.

The Sanctions Principles-Based Regulation: A Blueprint for a New Approach for the EU Sanctions Policy (Part I)

192 Despite the tremendous number of studies devoted to the effectiveness of economic sanctions, the unprecedented number of sanctions applied and the recent European Union (EU) reforms on sanctions, sanctions effectiveness should be still a matter of debate. More than a year after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but G7-led sanctions have not materially hindered Russia’s war effort. This study intends to address this problem by focusing on how to make the use and application of EU sanctions against Russia more effective. In doing so, I argue that the main impediments to EU sanctions effectiveness are systemic in nature and inherent to the EU sanctions policy framework. The piecemeal changes of the EU sanctions regulatory framework undertaken so far have not solved these systemic flaws that undermine the effectiveness of EU sanctions. A fundamental revision of the entire system of the EU sanctions policy framework is needed. This study proposes implementing a comprehensive principles-based framework for EU sanctions policy, where harmonisation and the risk-based approach are its foundations, to make sanctions more effective. The proposed sanctions principles-based framework is broader in its scope than is currently the case; it covers a broader set of principles. The proposed frame includes all the stages of the sanctions process, is addressed to a broader number of actors and its foundations are developed. I recommend that this sanctions principles-based framework should be mandatory for use. This is the first part of a two-part article. Part I of the article discusses the need for the revision of the regulatory approach to the EU sanctions policy to increase the effectiveness of sanctions. It includes the analysis of the EU sanctions as a foreign policy instrument and a comprehensive overview of the EU regulatory framework on sanctions as well as the analysis of imposition of the EU sanctions against Russia. Part I also discusses policy proposals for the effectiveness of the EU sanctions, such as harmonisation of the EU sanction policy and the application of a sanctions risk-based approach.

The politics of Gulf foreign aid: from survival and solidarity to political and military influence

This article critically examines the shifting dynamics of foreign aid politics within the Gulf states. Historically rooted in cultural factors and solidarity with Arab and Muslim nations, foreign aid from prominent donors such as the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait has undergone a profound transformation. Their aid has evolved from solidarity aid into an effective instrument of foreign policy, used strategically to project power and expand regional influence. This shift has not only redefined the role of Gulf countries in international and regional politics but has also catalysed the transformation of states in the broader Middle East. This article, therefore, seeks to answer the following two questions: (1) How do we explain the evolution of the politicisation of Gulf foreign aid? and (2) To what extent has the provision of Gulf foreign aid been a crucial determinant of changing regional dynamics in the Middle East, particularly since the Arab uprisings in 2011? It argues that Gulf donors have become crucial power brokers, shaping the politics and trajectories of key states such as Egypt post 2011. Their substantial financial assistance has proven instrumental in steering political and socio-economic transformations, highlighting the pivotal role of Gulf aid in shaping regional affairs.

SPORTS AND INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION: HOW QATAR AND SAUDI ARABIA UTILIZE SPORTS TO ENHANCE THEIR IMAGE

Modern international relations contemplate the rise of sports as an effective instrument of foreign policy, enabling nations to enhance their global reputation and project soft power. This article aims to explore the sports diplomacy of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, focusing on their methods of building international reputation and raising the issue of sportswashing as a phenomenon. The foundation of the research is the analysis of official state documents, key sporting events, and recent news surrounding the development of these countries. The major research finding is that both countries use their substantial financial resources to advance their global image and economic diversification. Qatar emphasizes hosting high-profile events, developing sponsorships and partnerships, and investing in international sports entities, while Saudi Arabia focuses on attracting renowned athletes to its domestic league and using their image and fanbase. Key results indicate that Qatar and Saudi Arabia have significantly enhanced their reputation and image by hosting the FIFA World Cup and attracting famous athletes. Yet, another outcome is the rising concern about sportswashing, the concept under which Qatar and Saudi Arabia utilize sports to divert international attention from human rights violations or political problems. The article identifies countermeasures, including leveraging non-state actors, implementing specific regulations, and using boycotts and media campaigns. The work acknowledges the potential of sports diplomacy but underlines the need for solid responses from international actors to address sportswashing. In the end, this analysis contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexities and issues of sports diplomacy in contemporary international relations, offering insights into effective strategies, negative implications, and solutions to them.

Understanding South-South Cooperation: A Comparative Analysis with North-South Cooperation Approaches

South-South Cooperation was first conceived at the 1955 Bandung Conference, which led to the foundation of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961 and other important initiatives within the UN system, such as creating the G77 and elaborating the Buenos Aires Plan of Action. Since the beginning of the century, this cooperation modality has re-emerged and is now considered a catalyst for sustainable development. Given this context, this paper aims to analyze its ideological and political origins, definitions, and evolution, highlighting its importance as an instrument of foreign policy and development cooperation. In addition, a comparison between South-South and North-South Cooperation is made through five dimensions: ideas, institutions/political systems, interests, organizations, and vectors/schemes. Through this comparative approach, the author seeks to present consensual aspects of what is understood as South-South Cooperation and portray the diversity of strategies implemented by countries in the Global South.Keywords: South-South Cooperation; North-South Cooperation; Global South; sustainable developmen; BRICS

The Influence of Diplomatic and Foreign Policy Considerations in the Making of Migration and Asylum Policy in Morocco

Abstract Can the management of transnational migration and asylum be used as an instrument of foreign policy? From labour market needs to legal issues, electoral pressure, and financial and commercial interests, the scholarly literature on the drivers of migration policy in both the North and the South has focused primarily on domestic factors. The case of Morocco offers a useful additional perspective. The security-orientated and restrictive policy toward transmigrants applied in the 2000s gave way, in 2013, to a new approach that was much more welcoming and mindful of migrant integration. Since Morocco’s independence in 1956, asylum management has been driven exclusively by security and political objectives. Although it has never had a national asylum system, Morocco has officially taken the initiative to establish a system that complies with its international commitments in asylum. By taking a Moroccan perspective on the situation, this article examines the management of migration and asylum by a country of the Global South with a multifaceted migration profile (as a country that is simultaneously one of emigration, transit, and immigration). It shows that Morocco’s change in migration policy is a reflection of its evolving foreign policy.

Critical discourse analysis of North Korea's foreign policy in Kim Jong Un's speech in 2022

The purpose of this article is to explore the discourse on the direction of North Korea's foreign policy under the leadership of Kim Jong Un. This article uses the concept of critical discourse analysis to analyze North Korea's foreign policy through Kim Jong Un's speech in 2022. For data collection, validation and linguistic investigation using the NVivo 12 Plus application. The data sources used are literature reviews through e-books, news, journals and Google Scholar. The results of the data processing show interesting findings, where in his speech in 2022, Kim Jong Un renewed his Law to threaten military action by South Korea and the United States. In addition, make North Korea's nuclear arsenal the most powerful and absolute and the "most powerful strategic weapon in the world". By developing the National Security discourse presented in 2022, the North Korean government can protect the country, people and sovereignty from enemy influence and make North Korea a country with world-recognized military defense. This National Security Discourse then becomes the main focus of Kim's foreign policy instrument in 2022.The purpose of this article is to explore the discourse on the direction of North Korea's foreign policy under the leadership of Kim Jong Un. This article uses the concept of critical discourse analysis to analyze North Korea's foreign policy through Kim Jong Un's speech in 2022. For data collection, validation and linguistic investigation using the NVivo 12 Plus application. The data sources used are literature reviews through e-books, news, journals and Google Scholar. The results of the data processing show interesting findings, where in his speech in 2022, Kim Jong Un renewed his Law to threaten military action by South Korea and the United States. In addition, make North Korea's nuclear arsenal the most powerful and absolute and the "most powerful strategic weapon in the world". By developing the National Security discourse presented in 2022, the North Korean government can protect the country, people and sovereignty from enemy influence and make North Korea a country with world-recognized military defense. This National Security Discourse then becomes the main focus of Kim's foreign policy instrument in 2022.

THE DEFENCE POLICY OF DENMARK AFTER THE 2022 REFERENDUM

The article deals with the impact of the special relationship with the US on the three aspects of Danish foreign policy: the approach to the EU strategic autonomy, regional defence policy priorities, and Denmark’s readiness to escalate relations with Russia. Using the method of qualitative content analysis of Danish foreign policy strategies, Copenhagen’s current views on the alliance relations with the US are assessed, especially within the framework of Denmark’s turn towards «pragmatic idealism» in foreign policy, which Denmark announced in May 2023, and scrapping the EU defence opt-out following the outcome of the June 2022 referendum. The analysis has shown that maintaining the status of an «exemplary» or «model» ally leads both to contradictions and ignoring traditional mores within the Danish political system and the skewed priorities in financing military and non-military instruments of the Danish foreign policy. Moreover, even in Denmark’s military support of Ukraine, there is a gap between the symbolic value and practical effect of the measures taken by the Danish side. It is concluded that greater involvement in building the EU’s strategic autonomy will reduce Denmark’s interest in further escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and its readiness for rhetorical and practical confrontation with Russia. At the same time, based on open sources, the U.S. is not exerting significant pressure on Copenhagen in connection with select gaps in compliance with the sanction regime. In case D. Trump is elected as the US president in the 2024 elections, Denmark, as one of the most pro-Atlantic EU member states, will probably face the acute task of linking the course of strategic autonomy with a broader vision of the future of transatlantic relations, as well as overcoming the dilemma between the concentration of defence capablities either in the Baltic Sea or in the North Atlantic and Arctic area including Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Theorising the Hedging Strategy: National Interests, Objectives, and Mixed Foreign Policy Instruments

Hedging is a comprehensive foreign policy strategy that mixes competitive and cooperative approaches and is used to manage competing national interests during conditions of uncertainty over the future distribution of power. However, the literature is characterised by a lack of consensus on the central features of hedging, which leads to contradictions in how the concept of hedging is applied. First, this paper assesses the definition of hedging, identifies three rival approaches, and links the risks and opportunities of hedging with uncertainty over the future international distribution of power. Second, it discusses how the various interpretations of hedging have inspired different analytical models. Finally, it explains hedging as a theoretically intermediate and analytically mixed strategy. These claims are supported by studying the Asia-Pacific region, where hedging has become the dominant strategy for coping with the uncertainty surrounding the future distribution of power stemming from the rise of China.

Публичная дипломатия США в отношении центральноазиатских стран

Introduction. Public diplomacy is an effective foreign policy instrument of the state. Public diplomacy is understood as the activity of an actor aimed at achieving foreign policy objectives by establishing and deepening long-term interstate relations. The purpose of such activities is to inform foreign audiences as well as broadcast the principles of national policy beyond the borders of one’s own state. Public diplomacy is designed to influence those who have the opportunity to shape public belief systems. Methods and materials. The methodological basis of the study was a transnational approach, which allows us to reveal the role of state and non-state actors in international relations. The work uses a systematic approach in order to form a holistic view of American public diplomacy as an instrument of “soft power.” To identify the individual tools used by the United States in promoting public diplomacy in each individual Central Asian country, a comparative method was used. Analysis and results. Public diplomacy seems to be an important tool of the American administration in the most important foreign policy areas. The priority instrument of US public diplomacy in the Central Asian region is the support of civil society and non-profit organizations. Using grant support mechanisms, the role of public organizations is strengthened, and dialogue between civil society and government authorities is encouraged in the formation and development of socio-economic policy. The second relevant tool is media support and working with information consumers among various segments of the population. According to the results of the study, it was revealed that these projects were most effectively implemented in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan. The third most successful tool is education, whose work is based on grant programs both in the republics and in the United States. Systematic work carried out, taking into account a deep understanding of the internal processes in the Central Asian republics as well as the active use of public diplomacy tools, allows the United States to strengthen its foreign policy potential in the region.

Exploring the Repercussions of Bilateral Military Intrusions in the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia and Kenya’s Invasion of Somalia

From antiquity to the present, states considered military intervention to be one of their tools for pursuing foreign policy objectives. The primary objective of this study is to investigate why Ethiopia’s and Kenya’s military interventions that used military intervention as their foreign policy largely failed to achieve their intervention objectives. The article used a single case study (the invasion of neighbors into Somalia territory) based on process tracing methodology, which seeks to explain why Ethiopia’s and Kenya’s interventions have largely failed (or been partially successful) in achieving the proclaimed goals. The article uses the “good enough” approach to analyze the operational outcomes of military incursions into Somalia by Kenya and Ethiopia. The study concludes that the intended goals were only partially achieved based on the findings. Due to inadequate pre-intervention planning, the presence of an intervening coalition, and strained historical ties between Ethiopia and Somalia, Ethiopia’s intervention was mainly ineffective. In contrast, Kenya’s weak pre-intervention planning, domestic circumstances, diplomatic crisis, and rivalry among regional powers have all contributed to the country’s interventions’ major failure. Thus, the results of the operations in Ethiopia and Kenya show that using military force alone as an instrument of foreign policy was ineffective; it needed to be combined with diplomacy and other means.

Ethiopia’s and Kenya’s Use of Military Force as an Instrument of Foreign Policy in Post-1991 Somalia

In the history of politics, states have viewed military intervention as one of their tools of foreign policy. However, many scholars have not agreed on the effectiveness of military means in achieving the foreign policy objectives of states. Like other states, Ethiopia and Kenya have used the military as a means of foreign policy and tested their tools in Somalia practically. However, the effectiveness of their foreign policy tool has not been studied. That is why this article’s main objective is to analyse the effectiveness of Ethiopian and Kenyan foreign policies that used military interventions to achieve their foreign policy goals in terms of outcomes. In doing so, the article used a comparative case study methodology. Besides, the ‘good enough’ approach is the proper theoretical lens that is used in this article to comprehend Ethiopia’s and Kenya’s operational outcomes. The analysis comes to the conclusion that both Kenya’s and Ethiopia’s military deployments in Somalia generally failed to accomplish their foreign policy goals. Accordingly, the findings reveal that using hard power as a tool of foreign policy without combining soft power is largely unsuccessful, as indicated by Ethiopia’s and Kenya’s military engagement in Somalia.

The emergence of “soft power” as a tool of the Republic of Korea's foreign policy

Over the past few years, the East Asian states, notably the Republic of Korea, have been effectively implementing soft power strategies. The concept's founder J. Nye himself draws the attention of the scientific circles to the fact that “the potential of the countries (note – the East Asian region) is rising year by year. The research of soft power of the Republic of Korea is of utmost interest, as the Republic of Korea managed to revamp its economy and political institutions in a very short period of time, establishing its position in the international arena and becoming one of the “significant” cultural exporters of today. The purpose of this paper is to outline the specifics of soft power development as one of the foreign policy and public diplomacy mechanisms of the Republic of Korea. For a more accurate understanding of the use of soft power as an instrument of foreign policy of the state under study, historical and socio-cultural methods were involved. The research also included the following approaches to the study of soft power: structural and functional, discourse analysis, and the institutional approach. The scientific novelty lies in the elaboration of the author's definition of “soft power”. “The Korean Wave” provided an additional opportunity for the government of the Republic of Korea to take advantage of soft power as a foreign policy strategy to promote Korean cultural values in a globalizing world. The Republic of Korea's emergence as a cultural power on the world stage has been facilitated by the phenomenon known as the Korean Wave or Hallyu. This phenomenon is characterized by the extensive spread of Korean popular culture, including music, TV series and films. Hallyu brought with it cultural and social implications, especially for Asia, as the Republic of Korea changed its role from a recipient to a donor of popular culture in the region. The Republic of Korea is a prime example of the effective use of culture as its soft power, showing that global presence through creative products can significantly influence a nation's economy and international position.

АНАЛІЗ ЕФЕКТИВНОСТІ ВИКОРИСТАННЯ ІНСТРУМЕНТІВ ВАЛЮТНОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ В УКРАЇНІ В ПЕРІОДИ КРИЗ 2008–2009 ТА 2019–2020 РОКІВ

The article is devoted to the analysis, comparison and evaluation of the effectiveness of the foreign exchange policy instruments used during the crises of 2008-2009 and 2019-2020 in Ukraine. The main types of instruments of foreign exchange regulation and the priority areas of their application were defined. The authors took under consideration the key features of the construction of the socioeconomic model of Ukraine, the geopolitical situation, and the imposition of cyclical fluctuations during the considered periods. In the course of the study, the exchange rate fluctuations of the national currency against the US dollar were monitored to determine dynamics of the devaluation and revaluation processes within the given time frames. In order to detail the regulatory foreign exchange policy, a separate analysis of the use of NBU tools within the current and long-term strategy was carried out, the differences were identified and the consequences were outlined. The conducted research showed that during both crises the discount policy, namely the change in the discount rate, was most actively used. But the changes were somewhat divergent: more aggressive liberal measures taken to reduce the discount rate during the 2019-2020 crisis appeared to be more effective compared to the crisis of 2008-2009. This is evidenced by data on changes in GDP PPP, indicating the best positive dynamics when exiting the recession during the pandemic. However, in both cases, significant devaluation was observed. In order to determine the causes and consequences of the depreciation of the national currency in relation to the US dollar and other currencies, an analysis of the balance of payments accounts was carried out by individual articles. This made it possible to indicate significant differences in the nature of the origin of these crises. The instruments of motto policy were also used with varying degrees of activity and in the opposite direction. Foreign exchange interventions in 2008-2009, in contrast to the period of 2019-2020, were used very limitedly due to the rather rapid depletion of gold and foreign exchange reserves. Foreign exchange restrictions were strengthened in 2008-2009, and liberalized in 2019-2020. As a result, it allowed to revive investment flows and improve the business climate in the country. It is also noted that against the background of general devaluation during both crises, a period of revaluation of the national currency was also observed in 2019. The analysis showed that in that case it was rather a negative phenomenon, which led to significant losses in the revenue part of the budget due to a decrease in revenues from customs payments, resulted from the inconsistent actions of the NBU and relevant ministries. Other elements of foreign exchange policy were almost not used: the degree of currency convertibility and the exchange rate regime did not change (with the exception of a short period of introduction of the exchange rate band). The same can be said about the instruments of the long-term foreign exchange policy: the order of international settlements was slightly adjusted, but not significantly; the regime of exchange rates and parities remained unchanged; the use of gold and reserve currencies was combined with the diversification of foreign exchange reserves and was mainly related to foreign exchange interventions and the fulfillment of external debt obligations. The conducted analysis allowed to identify the main directions of the foreign exchange policy of Ukraine regarding the stabilization of the economy and the achievement of sustainable economic growth. To solve this problem, it is advisable to gradually introduce foreign exchange liberalization, introduce new reforms and state projects that might improve the investment climate. It is also appropriate to de-dollarize the debts of enterprises through incentives for lending in the national currency. In the long term, it is appropriate to strengthen financial and capital markets to ensure the stability of economic growth.

Программа «Эразмус» в европейском и многополярном образовательном пространстве

This article delves into the role of the “Erasmus” Programme within the context of European and multipolar educational spaces. Recognized as a significant tool for international academic mobility, the “Erasmus” Programme serves as a catalyst for higher education cooperation between participating countries. The program has grown beyond its initial European scope, encompassing universities, youth organizations, and transnational corporations worldwide. The “Erasmus” is not only instrumental in fostering innovative approaches to education, encouraging knowledge exchange, and strengthening international partnerships, but also performs broader political functions. It contributes to socio-economic resources for European citizens, reinforces the EU's political stability, and promotes solidarity among the member states. The “Erasmus” Programme has become a unifying foundation for not only European countries but also a wide range of partner nations, making it an attractive model for regions worldwide and a successful instrument of the EU's foreign policy. The relevance of the “Erasmus” Program is enhanced from a practical point of view in the context of reforming the higher education system in Kazakhstan and closer integration with European educational models.

Foreign aid and bilateral relations: The Israel−East Africa case

AbstractInternational relations literature generally tells us that donor countries see foreign aid as a key instrument of foreign policy to promote political interests. According to research, donor countries usually hope to get favorable voting at the United Nations (UN) arena in return, meaning that the motivation for foreign aid is not so altruistic. This article examines these claims and discusses the link between foreign aid, bilateral relations, and voting patterns in the UN General Assembly while focusing on Israeli foreign aid to five East African countries, using data on Israel's foreign aid and data on voting patterns from 2012 to 2021. The results testify that Israel foreign aid has helped to promote ties with Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania, but has not helped to promote voting patterns in favor of Israel. The results reveal a duality according to which the bilateral relations between Israel and East African countries have improved, but there has been no improvement in their voting patterns in a way that raises questions about the success level of using foreign aid as a tool to promote a favorable UN voting.

Роль Евросоюза в (де)стабилизации постъюгославского пространства

Since the launch of the Stabilization and Association Process in 1999, the European Union has become the main conflict mediator on the post-Yugoslav space. The EU’s policy towards the region of the so-called Western Balkans implies the juxtaposition of integration and conflict settlement goals, which was not the case during the previous enlargement waves. Besides promoting peacebuilding initiatives through traditional foreign policy instruments, Brussels has been practicing a complicated system of incentives and sanctions related to the European integration procedures. Progress of the post-Yugoslav republics in enlargement is conditional on their willingness to implement particular requirements. The article analyzes the efficiency of the European Union’s conditionality from the perspective of regional stability. The ambivalence of such approach lies in politicization of peacebuilding agenda as the EU advances its specific image of recent civil wars in the Balkans. Using the methods of retrospective analysis of European politics, including foreign policy documents, the author substantiates the political nature of the demands made by Brussels on the parties to the conflicts. The distinct feature of the EU enlargement policy is the hierarchization of actors in foreign policy processes, which provides various countries with different negotiating power. This conditionality, due to the value contradictions within the communities, leads to the point when the applied measures of settlement lead not to the expected normalization, but to the aggravation of the situation and polarization of the parties. Thus, the author identifies the discrepancy between the declared objectives of the European Union as a mediator and the practical results. This inconsistency has prompted the decay of neighbor relations on the post-Yugoslav space as the EU member states attempted to instrumentalize their position within the Union for the ultimate solution of bilateral disputes with candidate countries, blocking the integration process in general.

Sports as an Instrument of Foreign Policy Under the Military Rule in Nigeria: 1976-1996

The importance and popularity of sports among the nations of the world is huge. Sports are among the few common denominators for all the nations of the world irrespective of their respective political ideologies and religious inclinations. Through sports, enemies in political and ideological realms can compete between and among each other in an atmosphere of peace. Over the years, world leaders have used sports as an instrument of foreign policy. They do that in both positive and negative ways. Sports are deployed positively when they are used to boost friendship or to support a noble cause and they are used negatively when they are deployed as an instrument of sanctions. This paper shows how sports were used as an instrument of foreign policy in Nigeria by three military regimes of Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and Sanni Abacha. Olusegun Obasanjo's regime pulled out Nigeria's Olympic contingents from participating in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada. Ten years later, the regime of Ibrahim Babangida led other Anglophone countries to boycott the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland; and in 1996 General Sanni Abacha stopped the Super Eagles from defending the title they won in the previous edition of the African Cup of Nations. Details of these boycotts and their political implications are discussed in this paper.

Features of economic sanctions as a tool to protect the strategic interests of the United States

The widespread use of economic sanctions as an instrument of foreign policy has caused a growing interest in assessing the effectiveness of their use to achieve the strategic goals of the initiator state. The article summarizes the main characteristics of economic sanctions as an instrument of foreign policy. The features of modern U.S. sanctions policy are presented. Special attention is paid to the conduct of anti-Russian sanctions by the coalition of countries led by the United States in 2022 and the assessment of the achievement of the stated goals.

The Russo-Ukrainian War: a Worldsystem Theoretical Approach

The article follows the perspective of the World-system and aims to reveal the factors determining Russian foreign policy. In response to the neo-realistic interpretation of Russia’s behaviour in the international system, based on the logic of maintaining the balance of powers, an alternative interpretation is formulated: Russia’s foreign policy is influenced by structural geo-economic factors – belonging to the ‘semi-peripheral’ geo-economic zone. It leads to socio-economic tensions and political instability within the state and forces the Russian regime to use various domestic and foreign policy instruments to mobilize the society. One such instrument is military aggression in foreign countries, including Ukraine.