Tsygankov A.P. Russia and the West from Alexander to Putin: Honor in International Relations

Cambridge — New York — Melbourne — Madrid — Cape Town — Singapore — São Paulo — Delhi — Mexico City: Cambridge University Press, 2012. — xii, 317 p. — ISBN: 978-1-107-02552-3.Since Russia has reemerged as a global power, its foreign policies have come under close scrutiny. In Russia and theWest from Alexander to Putin, Andrei P. Tsygankov identifies honor as the key concept by which Russia’s international relations are determined. He argues that Russia’s interests in acquiring power, security, and welfare are filtered through this cultural belief and that different conceptions of honor provide an organizing framework that produces policies of cooperation, defensiveness, and assertiveness in relation to the West. Using ten case studies spanning a period from the early nineteenth century to the present day — including the Holy Alliance, the Triple Entente, and the Russia-Georgia war — Tsygankov’s theory suggests that when Russia perceives its sense of honor to be recognized, it cooperates with theWestern nations; without such a recognition it pursues independent policies either defensively or assertively.Theory
Honor in International Relations
The Russian State and Its Honor
Russia’s Relations with the West
Honor and Cooperation
The Holy Alliance, 1815 — 1853
The Triple Entente, 1907 — 1917
The Collective Security, 1933 — 1939
The War on Terror, 2001 — 2005
Honor and Defensiveness
The Recueillement, 1856 — 1871
Peaceful Coexistence, 1921 — 1939
Containing NATO Expansion, 1995 — 2000
Honor and Assertiveness
The Crimean War, 1853 — 1856
The Early Cold War, 1946 — 1949
The Russia-Georgia War, August 2008