1st Edition
The Rebuilding of Greater Russia Putin's Foreign Policy Towards the CIS Countries
This book describes the strategies used by President Putin from 2000 onwards to recreate 'Greater Russia', that is a Russia that controls most of the territory of the former Soviet Union.
It shows the subtlety of the means of control, often through creating economic dependencies in the 'near abroad', including exploiting energy dependency, through prolonging other political and military dependencies, and sometimes through traditional 'power politics'. Bertil Nygren argues that after seven years in power the results of this strategy are beginning to show, providing comprehensive coverage of Russia’s relations to the former Soviet territories of the CIS countries, including Ukraine and Putin's role in the events surrounding the 'Orange Revolution', Belarus and the attempts to form a union, the Caucasus and Russia's role in the various conflicts, Moldova, including the Transdniester conflict, and Central Asia. This is an important subject for Russian studies experts and international relations scholars in general.
Part 1: The Russian Regional Security Complex and Russian Foreign Policy towards the CIS Countries. Part 2: Russia and the European Security Sub-Complex – Relations with Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. Part 3: Russia and the Caucasus Security Sub-Complex – Relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and the Regional Conflicts. Part 4: Russia and the Asian Regional Sub-Complex – Relations with Kyrgyztan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Part 5: Russia as a Regional Great Power – Analysis of the Past and Future of Putin's Attempt to Re-Build Greater Russia – Objectives, Strategies, Policies, Instruments, and Prospects for Success?
Biography
Bertil Nygren is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Swedish National Defence College and the Department of Political Science, Stockholm University. His research interests focus on politics in Russia and the CIS countries, security, strategy and international relations. His publications include Russia as a Great Power, Dimensions of Security Under Putin, (Edited by Jakob Hedenskog, Vilhelm Konnander, Bertil Nygren, Ingmar Oldberg and Christer Pursiainen), Routledge, 2005.
