Routledge US Foreign Policy Towards Russia in the Post-Cold War Era: Ideational Legacies and Institutionalised Conflict and Co-operation (BASEES/Routledge Series on Russian and East European Studies)

This book discusses how the ideas, expectations and mind-sets that formed within different US foreign policy making institutions during the Cold War have continued to influence US foreign policy making vis-à-vis Russia in the post-Cold War era, with detrimental consequences for US–Russia relations. It analyses what these ideas, expectations and mind-sets are, explores how they have influenced US foreign policy towards Russia as ideational legacies, including the ideas that Russia is untrustworthy, has to be contained and that in some aspects the relationship is necessarily adversarial, and outlines the consequences for US–Russian relations. It considers these ideational legacies in depth in relation to NATO enlargement, democracy promotion, and arms control and sets the subject in its wider context where other factors, such as increasingly assertive Russian foreign policy, impact on the relationship. It concludes by demonstrating how tension and mistrust have continued to grow during the Trump administration and considers the future for US–Russian relations. Review With the collapse of the old ideological paradigms at the end of the Cold war, new ideas are required to understand how we ended up in new era of confrontation and renewed Russo-American Cold War. This ground-breaking study examines how the ideational legacies of the original Cold War shape the new conflict. This sophisticated and erudite study is essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of it all. – Professor Richard Sakwa, University of Kent, UK Focusing on Cold War legacies and mindsets, David Parker provides a compelling account of US-Russia interactions following American decisions to expand NATO, promote democracy, and negotiate the START agreement. The Cold War may be over, but its ideational legacy lives on and contributes to shaping policy. – Professor Andrei P. Tsygankov, International Relations and Political Science, San Francisco State University, US David Parker’s explanation of how ideational legacies formed out of the experiences of elites and policy-makers in the Cold War have shaped US attitudes and actions towards Russia since it ended is a distinctive and valuable contribution. It has great historical and contemporary relevance, given the downward trajectory of US-Russia relations in the last decade. - Dr Nicolas Bouchet, German Marshall Fund of the United States, US About the Author David Parker is a Marie-Curie Research Fellow in the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University, Denmark and a Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, UK.