US and Russia: resetting relations : nternational cooperation from geopolitical perspective

• Název v anglickém jazyce: US and Russia: resetting relations : nternational cooperation from geopolitical perspective
• Klíčová slova: Rusko, USA, Obama, Putin, Medvěděv, mezinárodní vztahy
• Klíčová slova anglicky: Russia, USA, Obama, Putin, Medvedev, foreign relations
• Akademický rok vypsání: 2010/2011
• Typ práce: diplomová práce
• Jazyk práce: angličtina
• Ústav: Katedra politologie (23-KP)
• Vedoucí / školitel: Mgr. Markéta Žídková, Ph.D.
• Řešitel: skrytý - zadáno vedoucím/školitelem
• Datum přihlášení: 20.06.2011
• Datum zadání: 20.06.2011
• Datum a čas obhajoby: 29.06.2012 00:00
• Místo konání obhajoby: IPS FSV UK, U Kříže 8, 158 00 Praha 5 - Jinonice
• Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: 17.05.2012
• Datum proběhlé obhajoby: 29.06.2012
• Oponenti: PhDr. Michael Romancov, Ph.D.

Seznam odborné literatury

Aggerwal, Vinod K. Responding to Resurgent Russia. Russian policy and Responses from the European Union and the United States. New York: Springer Science+Bussiness Media, LLC 2012
Bobo Lo. Russian foreign policy in the post-Soviet era: reality, illusion and mythmaking. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2002
Dugin, Aleksandr. Osnovy geopolitiki: Geopoliticheskoe budushchee Rossii. Moscow: Arktogeya, 1997
Fukuyama, Francis. The End of History and the Last Man. New York: Free Press 1992
Huntington, Samuel P. Clash of Civilizations. New York: First Simon & Schuster 2003
Jackson, Nicole J. Russian Foreign Policy and the CIS: Theories, Debates and Actions. New York: Routledge 2003
Jervis, Robert. American Foreign Policy in a New Era. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis Books, Inc. 2005
Kennedy, Paul. Rise and Fall of Great powers. New York: First Vintage books Edition 1989
Kolodziej, Edward A. and Roger E. Kanet. From Superpower to Besieged Global Power. Athens: University of Georgia Press 2008
Legvold, Robert. Russian Foreign Policy in the 21st Century and the Shadow of the Past. New York: Columbia University Press 2007.
Lind, Michael. The American way of strategy. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006
Meiertöns, Heiko. The doctrine of the US security policy: an evaluation under international law. Cambridge: CUP 2010
Renehan, Edward J. Jr. The Monroe Doctrine: The Cornerstone of American Foreign Policy. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2007
Sakwa, Richard. Russian politics and society. Fourth Edition, New York: Routledge 2008
Shevtsova, Lillia Fedorovna. Putin´s Russia. Washington D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 2005
Spalding, Elizabeth Edwards. The First Cold Warrior, Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky 2006
Tannenwald, Nina. The Nuclear Taboo: The United States and the Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons Since 1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2007
Viotti, Paul R. American foreign policy, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2010
Watson, Robert P., Charles Gleek and Michael Grillo. Presidential doctrines: national security from Woodrow Wilson to George W. Bush. Penacook: NH Publications 2003

Předběžná náplň práce

US and Russia: Resetting Relations
International cooperation from geopolitical perspective

Subject definition: Geopolitical perspective on the development of international relations between The United States and Russian Federation

Reason why this topic was chosen: The "reset" in relations between the US and Russian Federation proclaimed by the Obama Administration in 2009 signifies willingness to cooperate and improve bi-lateral relations. However, both countries face different geopolitical challenges and it is likely that many of their geopolitical objectives will often be divergent, if not outright conflicting with each other. An in-depth analysis of this political initiative can provide a better understanding of contemporary dynamics of US and Russian foreign policies and evaluate potential for these nations to engage in meaningful and durable international cooperation.

The aims and objectives of this work can be summarized as follows:
To provide a theoretical understanding of Russian and American foreign policy.
To describe main geopolitical objectives of these two countries and identify geopolitical strategies they have chosen to attain them.
To analyze development of bi-lateral relations between the US and Russian Federation during the era of Bush-Putin presidencies.
To analyze the impact of the "reset" in relations proclaimed during the Obama-Medvedev presidencies.
To predict possible future developments of bi-lateral relations after Putin´s 2012 return to presidency.
To evaluate the potential for international cooperation between the US and Russian Federation.
Hypothesis:
US and Russia have different geopolitical objectives which often contravene each other and will therefore not be able to achieve any significant and durable improvement in bi-lateral relations.

Secondary research question:
To what extent can a composition of leadership of the US and Russian Federation influence the potential of the two nations to cooperate despite their conflicting geopolitical objectives?

Suggested Structure:
The methodological approach will be analytical and empirical. Therefore, chapters will follow a logical order. First chapter will provide a theoretical background for Russian and American foreign policies to identify their geopolitical objectives and strategies. Following chapters will provide an analysis of two specific time periods of US-Russian relations. These will be characterized by the administrations in place, firstly the Bush-Putin administrations and secondly, the Obama-Medvedev administrations. Therefore, it will be possible to compare approaches to geopolitics of bi-lateral relations employed by these two nations in time periods characterized by different composition of leadership. The final chapter will also make a prediction of possible future developments in relations based on findings in this and previous chapters.

Research Limitations:
One of the research goals of this work is to determine whether a favourable composition of leadership on both sides could enable the US and Russian Federation to overcome possible obstacles to international cooperation caused by the differences in their respective geopolitical objectives. However, in case of Russian government, the role of premier Putin during the presidency of Medvedev is a source of much speculation about the extent to which president Medvedev can independently set the foreign policy course of Russian Federation. This issue is avoided by this work because it is not a topic of this research and it is therefore assumed that president Medvedev can pursue his independent foreign policy.
Additionally, the aim of this work is to make an accurate and well funded prediction of possible future development in bi-lateral relations between these two nations. As is a nature of any predictions, they can be founded on collected data and analysis of previous developments, but they will always leave a large space for error due to inaccurate data or biased approach. Therefore, the author will have to make sure to stay unbiased and objective during his research.

Literature Analysis:
The literature used to research the topic of this work has been divided into three parts. The core literature includes basic texts from acknowledged authorities outlining foreign policy formulation in both US and Russia. Authors like Robert E. Kanet and Jeffrey Mankoff provide deep insight into Russian foreign policy and its development since the cold war. Like with most books in my list, the biggest shortcoming is that some of the information included is not up-to-date and reflects upon post-cold-war rather than 21st century geopolitical reality. Books by L. F. Shevtsova have been used mostly to gain better understanding of Russian internal political mechanisms, especially about the distribution of political power. Books by distinguished scholars Robert Jervis and Michael Lind have been used in a similar fashion to research developments in the US foreign policy since the cold war until the present. I have also chosen Viotti's American Foreign Policy to gain more recent source of material for this topic.
Most important books from my supporting literature included works by V. Aggarwal and Paul Viotti, which helped me to gain knowledge about American foreign policy and general dynamics of foreign relations with Russian Federation. As nuclear policies play an important role in my work, I have also included a book by Nina Tannenwald that exclusively focuses on political tradition of (non)use of nuclear weapons.
Finally, I have included a list of additional literature that has been studied, but did not yield any directly relevant information. These include works by S. Huntington whose idea of future clash of civilizations, despite relatively outdated today, helped me to make more accurate predictions, while his book about America's national identity was extremely useful in gaining further knowledge about American society and wide scale of factors influencing the public opinion.

Note: I also intend to reference articles published on web pages of respected think tanks. So far, I have focused on articles published by the Centre for European Reform (http://www.cer.org.uk/) and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (http://carnegieendowment.org/)

List of literature (disregarding internet based sources):
Core literature:
1. Roger E. Kanet: Russian Foreign Policy in the 21st Century
2. Roger E. Kanet: A Resurgent Russia and the West: The European Union, NATO and Beyond
3. Edward A. Kolodziej, Roger E. Kanet: From Superpower to Besieged Global Power: Restoring World Order after the Failure of the Bush Doctrine (Studies in Security and International Affairs)
4. Jeffrey Mankoff: Russian Foreign Policy: The Return of Great Power Politics
5. Lili'ia Fedorovna Shev'tsova, Antonina W. Bouis: Putin's Russia (Revised Edition)
6. Lilia Shevtsova: Lonely Power: Why Russia Has Failed to Become the West and the West is Weary of Russia
7. Michael Lind: The american way of strategy
8. Robert Jervis: American Foreign Policy in a New Era

Supporting literature:
9. Vinod K. Aggarwal, Kristi Govella: Responding to a Resurgent Russia: Russian Policy and Responses from the European Union and the United States
10. Paul Viotti: American Foreign Policy (WCMW - War and Conflict in the Modern World)
11. Nina Tannenwald: The Nuclear Taboo: The United States and the Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons Since 1945
12. Oskar Krejčí: Zahraniční politika USA´

Additional reading:
13. George Friedman: The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century
14. George Friedman: America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between America and Its Enemies
15. Paul Kennedy: The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict From 1500 to 2000
16. Edward Lucas: The New Cold War: Putin's Russia and the Threat to the West
17. Aaron L. Friedberg: A Contest For Supremacy (China, America, and the struggle for mastery in Asia)
18. Petr Drulák a kol.: Jak zkoumat politiku: Kvalitativní metodologie v politologii a mezinárodních vztazích
19. Samuel P. Huntington: The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order
20. Samuel P. Huntington: Who are we? : the challenges to America's national identity