Michael McFaul's article “Putin, Putinism, and the Domestic Determinants of Russian Foreign Policy” is well timed and likely to play a big role in shaping the debate about contemporary Russian foreign policy.1 The core argument is straightforward: President Vladimir Putin's illiberal worldviews are a major driver of Russia's international behavior. To be clear, McFaul acknowledges that other factors influence Russian behavior as well. In particular, he stresses that the balance of power enables Putin to pursue a confrontational foreign policy, but the balance of power does not motivate or cause his actions (pp. 102–105). Similarly, Russia's increasingly authoritarian political system serves as a permissive condition, concentrating decisionmaking authority in the hands of Putin (pp. 114–117). Thus, while McFaul recognizes that power and regime-type variables affect Russia's international behavior, the heavy causal lifting is done by Putin's illiberal conservatism and anti-Western mindset. The argument is intuitively compelling. On closer inspection,...
The Power of Putin in Russian Foreign Policy
Elias Götz is Assistant Professor in the Institute for Strategy and War Studies at the Royal Danish Defense College.
Michael McFaul is Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies in the Department of Political Science; and Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, all at Stanford University. He served five years in President Barack Obama's administration, first as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House (2009–12), and then as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2012–14).
Elias Götz is Assistant Professor in the Institute for Strategy and War Studies at the Royal Danish Defense College.
Michael McFaul is Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies in the Department of Political Science; and Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, all at Stanford University. He served five years in President Barack Obama's administration, first as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House (2009–12), and then as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2012–14).
Elias Götz, Michael McFaul; The Power of Putin in Russian Foreign Policy. International Security 2021; 46 (1): 196–200. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_c_00414
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