A culturalist perspective to Russian international posture in XXI century

Abstract

Abstract This paper is aimed at proposing an analysis of the Russian geopolitical self-perception in the light of a “culturalist” approach. The paper uses Samuel Huntington’s “model of civilizations” as an interpretative prism, following a multidisciplinary approach which allows to epistemologically validate certain points of the Huntingtonian thesis, and to reject others. This approach does not invalidate the neo-realist theories of international relations regarding the Russian search for a relative increase of power through the use of material factors. If anything, the culturalist perspective must be placed side by side with the neo-realist one in order to better grasp some intangible elements, in particular the attention paid by Moscow to its (former) imperial dimension, the influence exercised by the autocratic tradition on Russia’s international posture, together with the role of geographic space, the ascendency of the Orthodox church, as well as Eurasianist cultural inclinations. Finally, through a critical analysis and a selective review of the academic literature on these issues (as well as of the political texts published by some of the most prominent Russian politicians and intellectuals), the paper aims to demonstrate the self-perceived originality of the Russian model and its difficulty in being placed within the Western political categories.