Seeking Status in the Middle East

Abstract

Moscow’s Middle East policy has propelled Russia towards an influential regional role as a power broker in the wake of American retrenchment since the early 2010s. Yet, Russia’s new role has come with unenviable burdens and, moreover, is poorly explained by referring to Russia’s clear material interests in the region. Through insights of Social Psychology’s Social Identity Theory, this study presents status aspirations as the main impetus of Russia’s Middle East policy. By employing a process-tracing method, this study has found that Russia sought to pursue great power status through the exercise of two identity management strategies, social competition and social creativity, from 2011 to 2016. Despite an array of military and diplomatic successes in Syria and beyond, it remains doubtful whether Russia possesses sufficient material vigor to acquire recognition as a great power in the Middle East.