Publication: The influence of identities on national interests: the case of Russia's security policy
Loading...
Full text at PDC
Publication Date
2006-03
Authors
Advisors (or tutors)
Editors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to assess the ability of a systemic approach like social
constructivism to explain security policy, in comparison to theories at the state or individual
level like those in Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA). Here I focus on one of the basic tenets of
constructivism, the constitutive relation between identities and interests, taking the analysis of
Russian security policy as a case of study. After reviewing some of the main works on this
subject, I conclude that progress has been hindered by the constructivist dismissal of agency in
favour of structure as well as by the ambiguity of the concept of identity. Therefore, I propose to
take the role conceptions of decision-makers as the base for a convergence between
constructivism and FPA’s more “traditional” approaches.