Russian policy towards post-Soviet Frozen conflicts
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2020-06-28
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en
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Abstract
This case study examines Russia’s inconsistent foreign policy towards four post-Soviet frozen
conflicts by comparing two conflicting theoretical approaches on a system level. Russia’s policy is
labeled inconsistent because its approach to four frozen conflicts, namely the conflicts concerning
Transnistria, Abkhazia, South-Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh, is very different despite the fact these
conflict situations seem similar. The approaches that used are realism and social constructivism and
they each provide different explanations for Russia’s behavior. The former explains Russia’s policies
by security/power considerations, while the latter explains its policies by focusing on international
norms, collective identity and social identity. In the empirical analysis, Russia’s policy is summarized,
then analyzed and categorized and in the end possible independent variables that explain the
inconsistent policies are tested. After this extensive empirical analysis, sufficient empirical evidence is
found to conclude that Russia’s policies are primarily based on national interests but also partly on
the interest of the de facto states. The differences in Russia’s policies can be explained by on the one
hand the geopolitical course of the parent state and on the other hand the acceptance of Russia’s
role as regional power within the de facto states. Therefore both realism and social constructivism
are able to partly explain Russia’s policies as well as the differences in its policies.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen