The New Russian Diplomacy

A Brookings Institution Press and the Nixon Center publication In this frank and engaging book, foreign minister Igor S. Ivanov describes the evolution of Russian foreign policy since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Drawing on Russia's long diplomatic history, Ivanov analyzes the complex process through which a newly democratic Russia has redefined its foreign policy during a volatile transformation over the last decade. The book includes the text of Russia's Foreign Policy Concept, a Putin administration document that guides the day-to-day activities of the government. Designed to provide the world community with a transparent outline of Russia's foreign policy agenda, the Concept attempts to balance Russia's important role in the new world order with internal pressures to focus on domestic stability. The radical transformation of the past decade has required a complete overhaul of the process by which foreign policy is crafted, implemented, and communicated, according to Ivanov. The Concept delineates the role of parliament in making foreign policy decisions, the interrelationship of the legislative and executive branches, and the apportionment of authority among the president, government, and regional authorities. It also stresses the need to renovate Russia's diplomatic service, whose tradition of professionally trained diplomats dates back to Peter the Great. While acknowledging the impulse to recreate foreign policy from scratch during periods of revolutionary change and radical reform, Ivanov stresses the theoretical and practical importance of continuity. Although the modern political system of the Russian Federation has no analogue in Russian history, Ivanov draws compelling connections between the country's contemporary challenges and the rich legacy of Russian and Soviet diplomacy—in the process invoking the political philosophies of historical Russian leaders from ancient Rus' to Alexander Gorchakov. The New Russian Diplomacy was originally published in Russia, where it received very favorable reviews

In this frank and engaging book, foreign minister Igor S. Ivanov describes the evolution of Russian foreign policy since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Drawing on Russia's long diplomatic history, Ivanov analyzes the complex process through which a newly democratic Russia has redefined its foreign policy during a volatile transformation over the last decade. The book includes the text of Russia's Foreign Policy Concept, a Putin administration document that guides the day-to-day activities of the government. Designed to provide the world community with a transparent outline of Russia's foreign policy agenda, the Concept attempts to balance Russia's important role in the new world order with internal pressures to focus on domestic stability. The radical transformation of the past decade has required a complete overhaul of the process by which foreign policy is crafted, implemented, and communicated, according to Ivanov. The Concept delineates the role of parliament in making foreign policy decisions, the interrelationship of the legislative and executive branches, and the apportionment of authority among the president, government, and regional authorities. It also stresses the need to renovate Russia's diplomatic service, whose tradition of professionally trained diplomats dates back to Peter the Great. While acknowledging the impulse to recreate foreign policy from scratch during periods of revolutionary change and radical reform, Ivanov stresses the theoretical and practical importance of continuity. Although the modern political system of the Russian Federation has no analogue in Russian history, Ivanov draws compelling connections between the country's contemporary challenges and the rich legacy of Russian and Soviet diplomacy--in the process invoking the political philosophies of historical Russian leaders from ancient Rus' to Alexander Gorchakov. The New Russian Diplomacy was originally published in Russia, where it received very favorable reviews. This volume is a special edition prepared for American readers with a new introduction and an expanded and updated discussion of the U.S.-Russian relationship.

This book surveys Russia's relations with the world since 1992 and assesses the future prospect for the foreign policy of Europe's largest country. Together these essays offer an authoritative summary and assessment of Russia's relations with its neighbors and with the rest of the world since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russia's place in the world as a powerful regional actor can no longer be denied; the question that remains concerns what this means in terms of foreign policy and domestic stability for the actors involved in the situation, as Russia comes to grips with its newfound sources of might.

Russian public diplomacy attracts growing attention in the current global climate of tension and competition. However, it is often not understood or is misunderstood. Although some articles and book chapters exist, there are almost no books on Russian public diplomacy neither in Russian, nor in English. This edited collection is an in-depth and broad analysis of Russian public diplomacy in its conceptual understanding and its pragmatic aims and practice. Various aspects of Russian public diplomacy – from cultural to business practices – will interest professors, students and practitioners from various countries. Written by a diverse collection of the most prominent and capable scholars, from academia to international organizations, with a wealth of knowledge and objective experience, this book covers the vital topics and thoroughly analyzes the best practices and mistakes within the broad understanding of public diplomacy conducted by the Russian Federation.

Introduction: the guns of August -- Contours of Russian foreign policy -- Bulldogs fighting under the rug: the making of Russian foreign policy -- Resetting expectations: Russia and the United States -- Europe: between integration and confrontation -- Rising China and Russia's Asian vector -- Playing with home field advantage? Russia and its post-Soviet neighbors -- Conclusion: dealing with Russia's foreign policy reawakening.

In From Victory to Peace, Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter brings the Russian perspective to a critical moment in European political history. This history of Russian diplomatic thought in the years after the Congress of Vienna concerns a time when Russia and Emperor Alexander I were fully integrated into European society and politics. Wirtschafter looks at how Russia's statesmen who served Alexander I across Europe, in South America, and in Constantinople represented the Russian monarch's foreign policy and sought to act in concert with the allies. Based on archival and published sources—diplomatic communications, conference protocols, personal letters, treaty agreements, and the periodical press—this book illustrates how Russia's policymakers and diplomats responded to events on the ground as the process of implementing peace unfolded. Thanks to generous funding from the Sustainable History Monograph Pilot and the Mellon Foundation the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access (OA) volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other Open Access repositories.

Public diplomacy is widely used in the contemporary world, and this book is devoted to its use and study in Russia. It explores how, even though scientific diplomacy and people's diplomacy were used in the USSR, the ideas of public diplomacy were not in demand in Russia in the 1990s. However, following the United States, which turned to the policy after the tragic events of 9/11, Russia also began to develop its own. The author explores how the need for public diplomacy is reflected in the official documents of the Russian Federation and discusses the important step of building new institutions for this purpose in Russia. She analyzes how the development of the practice has led to its study, with Russian scholars focusing mainly on the tools and approaches of implementing public diplomacy by various states. The book discusses the relationship between public diplomacy and soft power and compares Russian approaches with those available in worldwide practice and theory. This book is intended primarily for students and researchers of international affairs specializing in Russian foreign policy and/or soft power issues. It will also be of interest to practitioners in public diplomacy, such as ministers of foreign affairs, NGOs, and the media.

"The foreign affairs book of the season ... an absorbing review of the nitty-gritty of Soviet-American diplomacy over the years."—Stephen S. Rosenfeld, The Washington Post "Vast in its historical sweep. . . . Focusing on the period since the Bolshevik Revolution, Whelan stresses five themes: the nature of negotiating behavior, its principal characteristics, elements contributing to its formation, aspects of continuity and change during more than 60 years, and the implications of the record for U.S. foreign policy in the 1980s. "The bulk of the book traces Soviet diplomacy under Chicherin and Litvinov, the enormously complex and detailed wartime conferences with Stalin, the descent into the cold war, the transition to peaceful coexistence with Nikita Krushchev (including fascinating details on the Cuban Missile Crisis), peaceful coexistence with Leonid Brezhnev (including extensive chronological analysis of the SALT process) and finally, judgements about how U.S. policy should be informed in future un- dertakings with the Soviets."—Nish Jamgotch, Jr., The American Political Science Review

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • “A rich and revealing account of the turbulent relationship between the U.S. and Russia during the first post-Cold War years. . . . Essential for any understanding of this critical and even dangerous period.”—Elizabeth Drew “A fascinating memoir of a weirdly unpredictable world.”—The New York Review of Books In the eight years Bill Clinton was president, as Russia lurched from crisis to crisis, each one more horrifying than the last, Clinton and his foreign-policy team found they faced no greater task than helping to keep Russia stable and at peace with herself and her neighbors. Strobe Talbott’s mesmerizing account of this struggle reveals what a close-run thing this was, and how much the relationship between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin has been defined by the work of Bill Clinton. Written with a novelistic richness and energy, The Russia Hand is the first great book about war and peace in the post-Cold War world. It is also the one book anyone needs to understand Russia’s fateful transformation and future possibilities after ten years as a democracy.