Russian Grand Strategy: Rhetoric and Reality
Abstract
The study of a state's grand strategy can provide key insights into the direction of its foreign policy and its responses to national security challenges. A grand strategy describes a state's most important and enduring interests and a theory for how the state will use its resources to defend or advance those interests given domestic and international constraints. A grand strategy also outlines a state's key assumptions about threats and provides clues about how the states leaders are likely to interpret and respond to changes in the international environment. Grand strategy is more than just a collection of foreign policies; it is the underlying logic that explains how these policies will advance the state's interests. As the scholar Barry Posen explains, "grand strategy is a nation-state's theory about how to produce security for itself." Understanding Russia's grand strategy can help U.S. policymakers avoid strategic surprise at Russia's political, economic, and military behavior; anticipate Russia's actions and reactions; and assess the depth and nature of potential conflicts of national interest between Russia and the United States. Because grand strategy is more than a collection of proclaimed foreign policy goals, Russia's grand strategy must be understood through both a study of key documents and statements and a close empirical analysis of patterns of behavior. This report both documents Russia's stated grand strategy and tests key elements of it against the actions of the Russian state.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1145378
Entities
People
- Alyssa Demus
- Clint Reach
- Dara Massicot
- Eugeniu Han
- Lynn E. Davis
- Mark Stalczynski
- Miranda Priebe
- Samuel Charap
Organizations
- RAND Corporation