Russia as a Civilization-State: Making Sense of Moscow’s 2023 Foreign Policy Concept
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Date
2024
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Ankara Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü
Abstract
With the war against Ukraine, Russian foreign policy is going through a critical juncture that causes
significant regional and global uncertainties. The current crisis is not a result of short-term brinkmanship but a
consequence of Moscow’s three-decade-long search for self-identification since the collapse of the Soviet
Union. To follow the Kremlin’s overall foreign policy trajectory and self-identification, Foreign Policy
Concepts are quite helpful since they reflect the main framework of Russian diplomacy since 1993. The study
begins by explaining the significance of the Concepts for Moscow’s foreign policy. Then, it highlights the main
themes of the latest Foreign Policy Concept: anti-hegemonism, multipolarity, Russia as a centre, and Russia as
a civilization-state. In each section, Moscow’s understanding of these themes is discussed and put into a
historical context to explain the significance of their appearance in the official documents. The article then
compares the previous concept to expose the change of narrative in 2023 to show the main changes in Russia’s
foreign policy priorities, articulation of other actors, and perception of threats.
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Keywords
: Russian Foreign Policy, anti-hegemonism, multipolarity, civilization, fortress Russia