Russia and the United States in the Asia Pacific: a perspective of the English School

In: Asian perspective, Band 42, Heft 3, S. 307-331

Abstract

In this article, I examine Russia-US relations, focusing on their Asia Pacific dimension. I argue that the United States and Russia hold widely divergent visions of international order. Washington remains committed to the idea of US-led hegemony based on Western liberal values whereas Moscow champions a multipolar great power order founded upon the balance of power, Westphalian sovereignty, and the diversity of values. I find strong affinity between Moscow's foreign policy discourse and Hedley Bull's version of the English School in international relations theory. Viewed from the English School perspective, the layer of fundamental norms and institutions linking Moscow and Washington together as citizens of one international society has become dangerously thin. This inevitably affects Russia-US interaction in the Asia Pacific and makes their cooperation on pressing security issues, such as North Korea, difficult. (Asian Perspect/GIGA)