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"The "Russian Idea" in International Relations identifies different approaches within Russian Civilizational tradition - Russia's nationally distinctive way of thinking - by situating them within IR literature and connecting them to practices of the country's international relations. Civilizational ideas in IR theory express states' cultural identification and stress religious traditions, social customs, and economic and political values. This book defines Russian civilizational ideas by two criteria: the values they stress and their global ambitions. The author identifies leading voices among those positioning Russia as an exceptional and globally significant system of values and traces their arguments across several centuries of the country's development. In addition, the author explains how and why Russian civilizational ideas rise, fall, and are replaced by alternative ideas. The book identifies three schools of Russian civilizational thinking about international relations - Slavophiles, Communists, and Eurasianists. Each school focuses on Russia's distinctive spiritual, social, and geographic roots, respectively. Each one is internally divided between those claiming Russia's exceptionalism, potentially resulting in regional autarchy or imperial expansion, and those advocating the Russian Idea as global in its appeal. Those favoring the latter perspective have stressed Russia's unique capacity for understanding different cultures and guarding the world against extremes of nationalism and hegemony in international relations. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Russian foreign policy, Russia-Western relations, IR theory, diplomatic studies, political science, and European history, including the history of ideas"--

"This book makes an original contribution to Russia-EU literature by analysing constructions and trans-formations of the Russian 'self' in relation to the European 'other'. It provides an orientation towards understanding Russian foreign policy discourse under Putin and offers a thorough analysis of the actions of key policy actors to ground the Russian discourse ideationally, historically, psychologically, and politico-sociologically. Providing a rich analysis of how Russian foreign policy towards the EU evolved from cooperation to competition and ultimately conflict, the author argues that to understand these changes and continuities we must explore concepts of sovereignty and balance of power central to the drafting of Russian foreign policy. Primarily situated in the fields of International Relations and Russian foreign policy this book will also be of interest to scholars in the fields of Foreign Policy Analysis, Post-Soviet Studies, Eurasian Studies, Historical International Relations, Critical Security Studies, Political Sociology, and Political Psychology"--

"This book explores how far messianism, the conviction that Russia has a special historical destiny, is present in, and affects, Russian foreign policy. Based on extensive original research, including analysis of public statements, policy documents, and opinion polls, the book argues that a sense of mission is present in Russian foreign policy, that it is very similar in its nature to thinking about Russia's mission in Tsarist times, that the sense of mission matters more for Russia's elites than for Russia's masses, and that Russia's special mission is emphasised more when there are questions about the regime's legitimacy as well as great power status. Overall, the book demonstrates that a sense of mission is an important factor in Russian foreign policy"--

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1 Marxism and the Crisis of Russian Messianism -- 2 The Effects of Revolution and Civil War -- 3 Soviet Nationality Policy and the Russians -- 4 Two Russias Collide -- 5 Projecting a New Russia -- 6 The Great Fatherland War -- 7 The Sweet and Bitter Fruits of Victory -- 8 The Relaunch of Utopia -- 9 The Rediscovery of Russia -- 10 The Return of Politics -- 11 An Unanticipated Creation: The Russian Federation -- Conclusion -- Appendix: Tables -- Notes -- Index

'Fluid Russia' offers a framework for understanding Russian national identity by focusing on the impact of globalization on its formation, something which has been largely overlooked. This approach sheds light on the Russian case, revealing a dynamic Russian identity that is developing along the lines of other countries exposed to globalization. Vera Michlin-Shapir shows how along with the freedoms afforded when Russia joined the globalizing world in the 1990s came globalization's disruptions.

Russia and America (1987) examines the divergence between two countries organised on diametrically opposed economic principles ⁰́₃ one centrally-planned, state-dominated, the other a highly decentralised market economy, free from significant government intervention. It highlights not the political changes brought about by the Russian revolution, but a longer more gradual process of interaction between physical and human environments. A comparative study extending over several centuries is used to account for the striking differences in their economic history.

Examines the struggle for a national idea being waged by politicians and intellectuals; roles of the state, democrats, communists, and patriots.

Explores informal bargaining among new Russian bankers representing commercial enterprises established since 1988 as a cultural tradition. Included in a collection of articles under the overall title "Formal institutions, informal practices".