Russia in the Indo-Pacific: New Approaches to Russian Foreign Policy

✍ Scribed by Gaye Christoffersen (editor)

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 298
• Series: Politics in Asia
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This volume zones in on Russia’s relations with the Indo-Pacific region through the lens of theoretical pluralism, presenting alternatives to the mainstream Realist view of Russia as a major power using geopolitical strategies to establish itself.

Russia in the Indo-Pacific is an understudied topic that needs a fresh perspective. Contributors to this volume are based across Russia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the USA, drawing on a range of multinational perspectives and theoretical approaches encompassing realism and liberalism, constructivism and the English school of international relations. Reflecting a trend of internationalization in the Russian study of IR, such theoretical pluralism could facilitate Russian contributions to emerging global IR theory.

Russia in the Indo-Pacific contributes towards a more intelligible common discourse in the Indo-Pacific, of interest to students and scholars of Sino-Russian relations, Indo-Pacific international relations, and international relations theory. It will also be of interest to policymakers and general readers following foreign policy and economic trends in the Indo-Pacific who want to better understand Russia's role.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of tables
Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Russian realism in Asia
The Soviet-era legacy
Explaining Russian foreign policy behavior
Constructivism and Eurasianism
Asian IR theory
A Russian IR theory
In this volume
Triangular relations
Foreign policy identities
Russia’s regional relations
Domestic sources of foreign policy
Conclusion
References
Part 1: China, Russia, and US: triangular relations
Chapter 1: China–Russia relations in times of crisis: A neoclassical realist explanation
Analytical framework: neoclassical realism
The pattern of China’s and Russia’s reactions
China’s reaction pattern to the Ukraine crisis
Russia’s reaction to the SCS dispute
Systemic and unit-level factors in China’s and Russia’s reaction to the crises
China’s interests in the post-Soviet space and sensitivity to territorial disputes
Russia’s reorientation to Asia and interests in East and Southeast Asia
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 2: Russia and the United States in Asia-Pacific: A Perspective of the English School
The hegemonic US grand strategy
The English School and Russia: an unlikely affinity
State-Centrism
The balance of power
Concert of powers
Nuclear weapons
Culture and values
Countering US hegemony in Asia-Pacific
The North Korea nuclear problem and the US–China–Russia strategic triangle
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 3: Russia, China, and the American Dilemma
An evolving triangular game
The American Dilemma
Notes
Part 2: Foreign policy identities
Chapter 4: Primordial rites or civic values?: Korean identity and its formation in the Russian Far East
Introduction
“Constructivism plus”: primordial and constructed cultures
Korean diaspora in the Russian Far East
First Korean settlers in Primorskiy Province
Sakhalin Koreans
North Korean workers
Korean diaspora in Primorskiy Province and its main cultural identifiers
Conclusion
Notes
Sources Cited
Chapter 5: Strategic partnership or alliance?: Sino-Russian relations from a constructivist perspective 1
Identity in Wendt’s constructivist theory
Identity in China’s and Russia’s perspectives on constructivist theory and the cultural formation of their foreign policy
The development of a common identity as the foundation for the Sino-Russian strategic partnership
Harmony and honor in China’s and Russia’s foreign policy
China’s “harmonious” way to solve disputes
Russia’s honor response to conflicts with others
The differences in Sino-Russian identities and the impossibility of alliance
Conclusion
Notes
References
Part 3: Russia’s regional relations
Chapter 6: The Sino-Russian partnership and the East Asian order
The English School and international order
Sino-Russian great power management and order in East Asia
The Sino-Russian challenge to the US-led order in East Asia
Opposition to the THAAD system and expansion of the US alliance system
Nonproliferation to nonnuclear states
Limited role for outside powers
Noninterference in the domestic affairs of authoritarian states
Crisis management in territorial disputes
Parallel policy efforts
The Philippines
Burma
The Sino-Russian order versus the US alliance system
The Trump factor
Conclusion
Acknowledgment
Note
References
Chapter 7: The vestige of history and “cold peace” between Russia and Japan
Introduction
The Cold War decades
Early post-Cold War years
Late twentieth–early twenty-first centuries: regional dynamic and its impact on Russian–Japanese relations
The Ukraine crisis and implications for Russia–Japan relations
Territorial stalemate and cold peace in recent Russia–Japan relations
The growing military significance of the disputed islands
Unfavorable public opinion in both countries
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 8: Sino-Russian accommodation and adaptation in Eurasian regional order formation 1
Russian Far East in the silk road economic belt
Eastern Economic Forum 2015
Redefining regional order
Chinese responses to the greater Eurasian partnership
Japan and China at the 2016 Eastern Economic Forum
2017 Eastern Economic Forum
2018 Eastern Economic Forum
2019 Eastern Economic Forum
Conclusion
Note
References
Chapter 9: Russia and Southeast Asia: The road less traveled
Introduction
Theoretical perspectives on Russia and Southeast Asia relations
Geopolitical setting in Southeast Asia
Small states and big powers
Post-cold war Russia in a “crowded” region
Southeast Asia in the Russian scheme of foreign policies
Russian pivot and relations with ASEAN/Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia’s utility and links with Russia
Revisionist or status quo?
Prospects for long-term Russia–Southeast Asia relations
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Part 4: Domestic sources of foreign policy
Chapter 10: The significance of Russia to China: Research methods on Russia and the Soviet Union
Introduction
The significance of Russia to China
Evolution and inadequacy of China’s Russian and Soviet research
Methodology discussion of Russian and Soviet studies
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 11: Russian methodological and theoretical approaches to the analysis of Sino-Russian relations in 1990s–2010s 1 .
Debate on Non-western IR and development of Russian IR
Academic and expert centers and discussion formats
Dynamics of the research on Sino-Russian relations in Russia in the 1990s to 2000s.
Research on Sino-Russian bilateral contacts
Analysis of Sino-Russian IR
Development of the analysis of Sino-Russian relations in the 2010s
Analysis of Sino-Russian relations in the context of a changing world order
Debate on the emergence of a formalized Sino-Russian alliance
Analysis of Sino-Russian relations in multilateral formats
Strategic triangles: China–Russia–US and Russia–India–China (RIC)
BRICS
Sino-Russian relations in the Eurasian region
China and Russia in the SCO
Analysis of the coordination of BRI and EEU and the debate on greater Eurasia
Analysis of bilateral ties between Russia and China
Continuously researched focal issues in the analysis of Bilateral contacts
New trends
Conclusion
Note
References
Index