This second volume, focusing on 1945-1991, unpacks the reasons for the Cold War and takes the reader through its ebbs, flows and unexpected end. How did the allies of World War II become enemies? The authors argue that the Cold War controversy could have been avoided, or at least mitigated, had the sides been guided by healthy pragmatism instead of ideology and megalomania. Contradictory relations between the superpowers, regional wars and conflicts, and the scramble to escape a nuclear Holocaust—all of this reads sometimes as a good detective story. Perestroika and Glasnost, useful as they might be, came too late to radically improve the poisonous atmosphere of enmity in East-West relations. The end of the Cold War did not mean the end of rivalry. Good will in this case did not guarantee good outcomes. As civilizational, cultural, personal and religious contradictions begin to replace economic and social divides, we need to be fully aware of our past if we are to do our best to resolve these issues.

These volumes present a compact analytical narrative of 20th century international politics penned by some of Russiaâ (TM)s most distinguished historians. Written in accessible prose and designed as an introductory text for students of international relations, the collection will interest all readers curious about perspectives on the twentieth centuryâ (TM)s most consequential events. This first volume, covering 1914-1945, shows how the short-sightedness of world leaders, the unbound nationalism of the masses and the unpredictable will of destiny led to World War I. It then addresses the core topic of how the common desire for peace, which reigned after the end of that war, could rocket Hitler to power in Germany and then lead to World War II.

This second volume, focusing on 1945-1991, unpacks the reasons for the Cold War and takes the reader through its ebbs, flows and unexpected end. How did the allies of World War II become enemies? The authors argue that the Cold War controversy could have been avoided, or at least mitigated, had the sides been guided by healthy pragmatism instead of ideology and megalomania. Contradictory relations between the superpowers, regional wars and conflicts, and the scramble to escape a nuclear Holocaust--all of this reads sometimes as a good detective story. Perestroika and Glasnost, useful as they might be, came too late to radically improve the poisonous atmosphere of enmity in East-West relations. The end of the Cold War did not mean the end of rivalry. Good will in this case did not guarantee good outcomes. As civilizational, cultural, personal and religious contradictions begin to replace economic and social divides, we need to be fully aware of our past if we are to do our best to resolve these issues.

Russia has long been a major player in the international relations arena, but only by examining the whole century can Russian foreign policy be properly understood, and the key questions as to the impact of war, of revolution, of collapse, the emergence of the Cold War and Russia’s post-Soviet development be addressed. Surveying the whole of the twentieth century in an accessible and clear manner Russia’s International Relations in the Twentieth Century provides an overview and narrative, with analysis, that will serve as an introduction and resource for students of Russian foreign policy in the period, and those who seek to understand the development of modern Russia in an international context. The volume includes: an analysis of the major themes which surrounded Russia’s position in world affairs as one of the European Great Powers before the First World War the impact of Revolution and the emergence of Soviet foreign policy with its dual aims of normalization and world revolution the changes wrought to the international order by the rise of Nazi Germany and by the Second World War the origins and development of the Cold War the end of the Cold War and the Soviet collapse how Russia has rebuilt itself as an international power in the post-Soviet era. An essential resource for students of Russian history and International policy.

Introduction: the guns of August -- Contours of Russian foreign policy -- Bulldogs fighting under the rug: the making of Russian foreign policy -- Resetting expectations: Russia and the United States -- Europe: between integration and confrontation -- Rising China and Russia's Asian vector -- Playing with home field advantage? Russia and its post-Soviet neighbors -- Conclusion: dealing with Russia's foreign policy reawakening.

Through a compilation of foreign policy documents and statements, harnessed together by a section of analytic works, this book seeks to highlight the shift in Russian foreign policy at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This compilation presents the work of formative scholars in this field who are concerned with the evolution of Russia Foreign policy thinking and behavior. This volume compiles critical documents and statements (treaties, addresses and articles) that deal with the formation of new conceptions of security in the New World order. The articles critically evaluate the implications of these new initiatives and lend insight to these documents and statements in practice. They address a wide range of topics from the crisis in Kosovo to domestic Russian policy, with an eye to the future of Russian policy.

A third edition of this book is now available. Now fully updated and revised, this clear and comprehensive text explores the past thirty years of Soviet/Russian international relations, comparing foreign policy formation under Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Putin, and Medvedev. Drawing on an impressive mastery of both Russian and Western sources, Andrei P. Tsygankov shows how Moscow's policies have shifted with each leader's vision of Russia's national interests. He evaluates the successes and failures of Russia's foreign policies, explaining its many turns as Russia's identity and interaction with the West have evolved. The book concludes with reflections on the emergence of the post-Western world and the challenges it presents to Russia's enduring quest for great-power status along with its desire for a special relationship with Western nations.

These volumes present a compact analytical narrative of 20th century international politics penned by some of Russia’s most distinguished historians. Written in accessible prose and designed as an introductory text for students of international relations, the collection will interest all readers curious about perspectives on the twentieth century’s most consequential events. This first volume, covering 1914-1945, shows how the short-sightedness of world leaders, the unbound nationalism of the masses and the unpredictable will of destiny led to World War I. It then addresses the core topic of how the common desire for peace, which reigned after the end of that war, could rocket Hitler to power in Germany and then lead to World War II.

Gorbachev’s Gamble offers a new and more convincing answer to this question by providing the missing link between the internal and external aspects of Gorbachev’s perestroika. Andrei Grachev shows that the radical transformation of Soviet foreign policy during the Gorbachev years was an integral part of an ambitious project of internal democratic reform and of the historic opening of Soviet society to the outside world. Grachev explains the motives and the intentions of the initiators of this project and describes their hopes and their illusions. He recounts the story of the internal debates and struggles in the Kremlin and behind-the-scene decisions that led to the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the break-up of the Warsaw Pact and eventually the demise of the Soviet Union itself. The book is based on exclusive interviews with the leaders of the Soviet Union including Gorbachev, personal notes and diaries of their assistants and advisers and transcripts of the discussions inside the Politburo and Secretariat of the Central Committee. Together they constitute a multi-voice political confession of a whole generation of decision-makers of the Soviet Union that enables us better to understand the origin and the breathtaking trajectory of the events that led to the end of the Cold War and the unprecedented transformation of world politics in the closing decades of the 20th century.

Drawing on a wide array of Russian sources, Iver Neumann outlines the Russian debate about Europea it unfolded over the last 200 years.