Russian Political, Economic & Security Issues

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East-West relations have noticeably deteriorated during the Bush administration, and Russia's behaviour has become commensurately more self-assertive. Key arms control achievements are in jeopardy, and Russia claims to be facing an array of growing threats, most prominently from America. In fact, Russia demands more respect from and equality with Washington and a free hand in world politics. In key respects, Moscow's new foreign policy grows out of the logic of its ever more autocratic and neo-imperial political structure. As analysed in the book, this structure reinforces the long-standing Russian tendency to view other states as being inherently adversarial, i.e., it has a disposition to see world politics in terms of a presupposition of a priori enemies. Thus it views arms control issues from the standpoint of deterring enemies not working with strategic partners. The danger of a foreign policy that relies on truculent rhetoric, inflated and aggressive threat assessments, and an autocratic and neo-imperial political structure based on the ideology of Russia's desire for a free hand in world politics and ingrained belief that others are inherently the same is that it will stimulate precisely the adversarial behaviour in Washington that it claims to see. There are already growing signs that certain sectors of the policymaking community are increasingly inclined to view Russia as a question mark, if not a rival of American policy.