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RUSSIAS SECURITY RELATIONS WITH THE WEST:
IDENTITIES AND THREAT PERCEPTIONS FROM PUTIN TO
MEDVEDEV
Dr Javier Morales
Senior Associate Member
St Antonys College, University of Oxford
Paper presented at the 3rd
Global International Studies Conference
Porto, Portugal, 1720 August 2011
Work in progress Please do not quote
Abstract: Perceptions of external threats to national security are determined by the
states own conception of its identity as an international actor. In this paper, we argue
that the evolution of Russias relations with the West has been influenced by competing
definitions of Moscows role in the world, which we have called great power
(derzhava), Eurasian civilisation or European country. Although there are many
similarities between these conceptions, they differ in their specific location of the West
within the ally-rival-enemy continuum, as the main Other in relation to which Russian
identity is still defined. We compare their respective influence during the Putin and
Medvedev presidencies, as they appeared in the official discourse on foreign and
security policy. Our conclusions are twofold: first, the Russian elites have primarily
viewed their country as a great power which should remain an autonomous international
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actor, although there is also an increasing recognition of common threats that implies a
rejection of essentialist Eurasianist views, incompatible with cooperation with the West.
Secondly, Moscow has not only been concerned by safeguarding its territory, resources
or population, but also by the ideational security of its international role. This has
caused challenges to Russias great power identity to be perceived as equally important
for national interests as more traditional, material threats; and intertwined with them.
1. INTRODUCTION
Perceptions of external threats to national security are determined by the states own
conception of its identity as an international actor. In this paper, we argue that the
evolution of Russias relations with the West has been influenced by competing
definitions of Moscows role in the world, which we have called great power
(derzhava), Eurasian civilisation or European country. Although there are many
similarities between these conceptions, they differ in their specific location of the West
within the ally-rival-enemy continuum, as the main Other in relation to which Russian
identity is still defined. We compare their respective influence during the Putin and
Medvedev presidencies, as they appeared in the official discourse on foreign and
security policy.
Russias views of its own role as a great power have caused many observers, both inside
and outside the country, to fear an increased confrontation with other states over world
influence. These political rivalries have been often defined in security terms, presenting
Moscow and the West as having incompatible identities and goals, therefore becoming a
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threat to each other. In this paper, we adopt a conventional constructivist approach to
analyse the relationship between Russias own identities as an international actor and its
attitudes toward the West. We will explore the ideational component of the Kremlins
threat perceptions, in order to show how questions of status and prestige have been
securitised to become national security issues, to the same extent as traditional defence
against armed attacks. Finally, we will try to assess the prospects for a shift in mutual
perceptions as a result of President Medvedevs rapprochement toward the US and
Europe.
The analysis of Russias security policy in Western think tanks and academia has been
traditionally dominated by a realist approach, especially during the Cold War. However,
as other theories of International Relations (IR) have shown, realism emphasizes the
competitive nature of an anarchical political system, therefore adding a certain bias
towards non-cooperative behaviour in a states foreign policy. The result is that, even
when an author does not purposefully adopt a realist framework for analysis, there are
often realist assumptions about Moscows motives and goals that are not explicitly
acknowledged.
2. ROLES, IDENTITIES AND THREAT PERCEPTIONS
2.1. The ideational turn in International Relations theory
The consideration of identities understood here as the ideas and conceptions of an
international actor about itself and its position in relation to others as a source of
foreign policy is one of the main issues in the current fourth debate in IR theory,
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starting with the critical reaction against neorealism by reflectivist authors. Even before,
the sub-discipline of Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) emphasised the importance of
individual decision-makers, as the point of intersection between material/structural
factors and the ideas that determine state behaviour (Snyder, Bruck and Sapin, 2002: 59;
Hudson, 2007: 7-9).
As several authors have argued (Goldstein and Keohane, 1993: 4; Hyde-Price, 2000:
23), realist theorists apply a rational choice logic that assumes that actors always try to
maximise their benefit, which is interpreted in terms of power and influence. According
to Waltz (1979), states that act following this strategy are more successful than those
who do not; therefore, power maximisation becomes the guiding principle of the
international system. Consequently, the role of decision-makers is reduced from this
point of view to acting according to their states relative international position, with a
very narrow room for manoeuvre (Webber and Smith, 2002: 53).
However, this does not sufficiently explain the variation among foreign and security
policies of all states, which are treated as like units. It also ignores the redefinition of
national interests very comprehensive in some cases that takes place whenever a
new government takes office. Although most, if not all, political leaders would probably
agree with the abstract principle of power maximisation, this is not always defined in
terms of material capabilities. Moreover, policies designed to achieve their goals can
vary greatly depending on the decision-makers perceptions of that is, their ideas
about national interests. Both ideational and material factors influence andconstitute
foreign and security policy: actors interpret and attribute meaning to power according to
their own ideas, rather than taking the capabilities of others and their own at face value.
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The fourth debate has stimulated constructivist and poststructuralist theories (for
example, Wendt, 1999; Hansen, 2006) that stress the importance of ideas as an
explanatory factor in IR, criticising the excessive attention by neorealists to the
distribution of material capabilities. These authors consider that national interests are
not given by the structure of the international system, but are constituted by identities
which are, in turn, constructed and reconstructed within the interactions between actors
(Wendt, 1992).
Social constructivism has emphasised that ideational structures condition state
behaviour as well as material structures. According to them, national interests are not
given by the material distribution of power in the international system, which according
to neorealism would make all actors try to increase their relative power vis--vis the
others. On the contrary, far from being like units, every state perceives itself and the
international environment according to its own identities, which constitute its definition
of national interests. Therefore, its identities are not automatically derived from its
degree of relative power, but are the result of a social construction (Agius, 2010: 50-51;
Wendt, 1992).
Constructivists share with other approaches, like poststructuralism, the argument that
reality is not completely separated from the observer that analyses it: social phenomena
are the product of a process that makes us perceive them as such. Agents and structures
mutually constitute each other; the anarchical international system is not objectively
such, but is a consequence of the actors behaviour and of a specific perception of
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national interests. In this way, constructivism can be more efficient in explaining
changes in the international system than realism (Agius, 2010: 50-51, 59).
For these authors, identities define who actors are, and therefore what their interests are.
Identities are shared ideas, intersubjective meanings not pre-existent realities that
are formed in the interaction between actors. Consequently, interests are endogenous:
they arise from these relations, instead of being derived from the international
distribution of power: anarchy is what states make of it, according to Wendt. He
makes a distinction between three cultures of anarchy that have been predominant in
different historical times and places: a Hobbesian culture, where actors consider each
other as an enemy and force is the main power resource; a Lockean culture, where there
is only a rivalry as each actor is moved by its own interests; and a Kantian culture,
where actors are allies that wish to cooperate with each other, with shared norms that
are perceived as legitimate. However, the fact that there are shared ideas does not
necessarily cause cooperation to happen (Wendt, 1992; Agius, 2010: 53-54, 60-61).
Culture means in this sense the beliefs and values that are institutionalised in a society
and are assumed by political decisionmakers, influencing national identity and
behaviour towards other actors. Among these ideas are norms, both constitutive those
that define identity and regulatory, which establish certain limits to acceptable
behaviour. New ideas and norms are created by epistemic communities of experts,
which cause state learning and socialisation and influence the conduct of foreign policy
(Agius, 2010: 56-58).
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By analysing the official discourse, we can also find which role conceptions or ideas
about their own states position and identity as an international actor are linked to
specific foreign policy orientations (Holsti, 1970). This state-level and individual-level
perspective is still relevant today, as an alternative to the primacy of the international
system as the main explanatory factor in most rationalist and reflectivist approaches.
But, while FPA is focused on the individual/group ideas of foreign policy-making elites
as a source of state behaviour, constructivism argues that the ideational structure
culture, roles, norms and values cannot be disaggregated from society to the
individual level.
Consequently, although role identity is present in Wendts conventional
constructivism (Wendt, 1999), he does not agree that its origins can be traced to the
ideas of individual decisionmaker, but to society and culture as a whole. As identities
have a social origin and function, their meaning is intersubjective, not individual;
individual conceptions are dependent on the prescriptions and expectations of other
actors. Both constructivism and neorealism criticize FPA, considered to be reductionist:
for Waltz (1979), the main source of state behaviour is not domestic, but resides in
structural factors: the power distribution among states.
Despite these differences with regard to the level of analysis, constructivism and the
cognitive theories of FPA agree that there is no direct causal link between structural
factors and foreign policy-making, because the former are filtered by actors ideas and
beliefs (Hyde-Price, 2000: 23-24). In the case of Russia and Western powers, their
changing mutual perceptions and self-identities as international actors are not just ex
post facto justifications of their respective policies. On the contrary, they form the
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interpretative framework with which their leaders analyse the external environment and
define their national interests. Therefore, changes in Russias identity towards the West
are not just the consequence of a rivalry derived from the asymmetry of capabilities, but
also one of the causes that have made competition or cooperation possible.
2.2. The ideational turn in Security Studies
The identification of security with the military sector, and of national security with the
states power vis--vis the others (Buzan, 2007: 30), was fully accepted by the realist
approach that was dominant during the Cold War. Due to the geopolitical situation and
the demands of political decisionmakers at that time, security experts in the United
States and Western Europe considered that Security Studies was about the threat, use
and control of military force (Nye y Lynn-Jones, 1988: 6-7); assimilating them into
Strategic Studies, which Buzan (2007: 32) defines as the study of the effects of the
instruments of force in international relations. Therefore, the phenomena analysed by
security scholars were limited to war and the use of armed force, according to Walt
(1991: 212).
However, other authors such as Arnold Wolfers and Richard Ullman already pointed
out the insufficiency of such a limited definition. For Wolfers (1952: 484-485), security
measures the absence of threats to previously acquired values, without specifying that
the former must necessarily be military threats, or that the values to be protected must
exclusively be the states sovereignty and independence and the lives of its citizens. In
this regard, Ullman (1983: 133) criticised that military threats, and more broadly those
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coming from outside the state borders, were implicitly assumed to be more dangerous
for national security than those of a domestic origin.
These shortcomings became evident with the end of the Cold War, when the threat of an
armed conflict between the two superpowers disappeared as the main preoccupation. As
Baldwin (1995: 132) remarks, Security Studies did not have at that time adequate
instruments to analyse those international problems that had neither a military character
not a military solution1. The progressive broadening of the concept of security was
twofold: first, with regard to the type of threats including non-military ones and
second, with regard to the referent objects, now not limited to the state.
The main author of this renovation was Buzan, who started from neorealism and its
conception of international society as an anarchical system; although he did not identify
anarchy with the Hobbesian sense of an inevitability of conflict, but as simply the
absence of a central authority or world government above the states (Buzan, 2007: 38-
39; McSweeney, 1999: 52-55). However, in his bookPeople, States and Fear, he would
push forward a renovation of neorealisms state-centric approach, with security being
defined as the capacity by societies and states of maintaining their independent
identity and functional integrity against undesired, hostile changes (Buzan, 2007: 37).
This central role of sovereignty and independence, and the fact that it is states that make
security policy through their respective governments (Buzan, 2007: 258-263), still
implicitly accepts the primacy of the military sector and the idea of national security. In
1
However, as McSweeney (1999: 35) indicates, some realist authors already stressedthe existence of non-military threats to national security.
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this way, there are two fundamental types of security strategy: national focused on
reducing the states vulnerabilities to defend itself; for example, in the military
capabilities and international, neutralising potential threats by political means to
prevent them from affecting national security; for example by establishing alliances
with like-minded states. However, the second element in his definition the
preservation of the normal functioning of the state and society would allow him to
consider non-military threats and other referent objects apart from the state2.
Buzan considers that security is the absence of threats to a human collectivity, rather
than to an individual, so traditional nation-states who are also the actors who create
and maintain the international order in an anarchical system are still the main referent
object. However, as ethnic and political borders do not always coincide, he stresses the
need to take other actors into account: national groups and also humankind as a whole,
which is globally affected by certain military or environmental threats (Buzan, 2007:
37, 40). This multiplicity of referent objects that is, those collectivities that should
be protected against security threats takes the focus both towards the sub-state level
and towards international society.
In addition to that, the distinction that Buzan establishes between strong and weak
states according to their internal cohesion, governability and degree of liberty makes the
latter developing and/or non-democratic countries more difficult to analyse, as other
actors such as the ruling elite or the opposition groups take a special relevance. The
security concept at that moment the Cold War was determined by the situation of
2
Buzan gives priority to threats against collectivities and groups, rather than againstindividuals, which sets him apart from the debate on human security.
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Western powers, for which the main threats were external; this was not the case for
weak states. However, Buzan questions the degree to which domestic problems can be
legitimately treated as national security issues, as this can be used by non-democratic
regimes to legitimise their repressive policies (Buzan, 2007: 96-99). In this regard he
comes close to the concept of securitisation introduced by Wver.
Buzan also considers that threats to human collectivities are not limited to military
issues, but there are other four security sectors as well: political, economic, societal
and environmental. The military sector refers to the states armed capabilities; the
political sector includes its political system and the ideologies that give legitimacy to it;
the economic sector is concerned with having access to the necessary resources to
maintain an acceptable level of state power and social welfare; the societal sector is
about language, culture, religion and national identity; and the environmental sector
considers the biosphere as the essential support to all human activities (Buzan, 2007:
38).
It is nonetheless difficult to determine with sufficient clarity the respective areas of the
economic and environmental sectors. Furthermore, it is also necessary to keep the
military sector as a distinct area (Buzan et al., 1998: 2). In this way, Buzan creates a
distinction between traditional Strategic Studies, focused on military security, and the
broader International Security Studies, as a sub-discipline of International Relations that
would encompass all security sectors.
This conception implies that, although the state is the actor that decides and implements
security policy that is, the subject that makes security, countering risks and threats
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can be considered to be existential is in itself a subjective process: the same fact can be
considered as such or not in different moments and societies (Buzan et al., 1998: 23-
31); except for the most extreme scenarios, such as a direct armed aggression.
The process of securitisation consists of the intersubjective assumption through a
discourse that is accepted by its participants of the idea that a certain topic is not in the
realm of ordinary politics, but is a security issue, and therefore requires emergency
measures and resources beyond the normally permitted limits. This has the effect of
granting political leaders an ample room for manoeuvre to make decisions on that
subject. However, attempts at securitisation can also be unsuccessful, as not every actor
is able to transform an issue into a security problem, nor all referent objects have the
required legitimacy to present their disappearance as a threat (Buzan et al., 1998: 28-29,
36).
The relationship between an actors self-conceptions or identities and its perceptions of
risks and threats is explained by what some authors call ontological security, that is,
the need to preserve a relatively stable identity or sense of self through which we can
interpret the environment, define our interests and take decisions accordingly. In this
way, a states perceptions are not only concerned with material threats to the physical
existence of its population, territory or resources; but also with challenges to its own
ideas about itself and the role it plays in the international system (Mitzen, 2006: 342,
344, 351-352; McSweeney, 1999: 154-156). The idea of ontological security explains
the elements of continuity in different stages, in spite of the changes in the level of
relative power and available resources. Therefore, role identities and above all,
Russias self-perception as a great power have evolved much more slowly that this
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countrys international influence, determining the perception of certain factors as threats
to national security.
3. RUSSIAS PERCEPTIONS OF THREATS TO ITS WORLD ROLE
3.1. Role identities in Russias foreign policy thinking
There have been three main role identities that have influenced in one way or another
Russias foreign policy in the post-Soviet era. Here we call them Great Power,
Eurasian Civilisation and European Country, which correspond to a similar
terminology used in the scholarly literature: nationalists/derzhavniki/New Western
Russian/Responsible-Independent Great Power, national-patriots/Eurasianists/New
Soviet Russian, or liberal/Westernisers/Essentialist Liberal (see for example Light,
1996; Pravda, 2001; Hopf, 2002; Thorun, 2009). Grossman (2005) employs an
inductive methodology to identify 11 conceptions in the Russian official discourse,
every one of which can be ascribed to one of these three broad identities.
Role identities have provided Russian decisionmakers with different frameworks to
assess the international environment and detect risks and threats to national interests. At
the same time, the need for ontological security has prevented these identities from
adapting to international changes too quickly, therefore causing a great degree of
continuity. The variation in security policy has depended to a large extent from the
domestic balance of power between the different governmental agencies and leaders,
and the resources to implement security policies, which have limited the number of
available options. These identities have linked the generic national interest of improving
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Russias position in the world which is a constant in foreign policy with the actual
foreign policy decisions, by interpreting the power structure of the international system
according to a set of preferences and values, and choosing certain policies instead of
others to achieve national objectives.
All three identities or strands of foreign policy thinking have been formed with the West
as the main Other in relation to which they define Russias role: part of the West, for
the European democrats; part of Eurasia, an alternative geopolitical entity
incompatible with Western values, for the Eurasianists; or an actor neither inside nor
outside it, which has a distinct identity but can also cooperate with the West where
there are common interests, for those who see Russia as an independent Great Power.
Therefore, their perception of the West has been influenced by each of the three
cultures of anarchy defined by Wendt, moving along the continuum conflict-
cooperation rather than adopting a static, inflexible position.
Moreover, we argue that role identities have not been limited to this interpretative
function, but have become referent objects of national security themselves. In this
regard, the official definition of risks and threats has included not only those challenges
to the countrys material security, but also to the roles that Russia wished to play in the
international society. This has been clearly reflected, for example, in Moscows attitude
towards NATO: while some decisionmakers like the General Staff of the armed forces
have often been concerned about military security, perceiving the Alliance in terms of
the worst case scenario of an attack against Russia, the Kremlins position at least
since the end of the Yeltsin presidency has been determined to a greater extent by the
ideational threat of being excluded from European security decisions, because of not
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being a member of NATO. The Alliance has therefore been considered a political rival
for Moscows status as a great power, rather than an enemy with aggressive intentions.
We can also see that, in spite of the official emphasis on the interests of the individual,
society and the state, the latter has preserved its almost exclusive role in the definition
of security threats: assessing the material conditions of national security, and defining
the role that Russia wanted to play in the world, which had to be protected in the same
way. The Great Power identity has been predominant thanks to its less axiological
orientation: national interest is the supreme value, not only defined in terms of material,
hard power, but also as political influence, soft power and recognition of its status as
a relevant international actor. This identity has shared the Eurasianist concern about
protecting Russian interests in the post-Soviet space, but with a pragmatic approach
rather than a civilisational or essentialist rejection of Western influence.
With regard to Moscows identity as one of the European democracies, the
Europeanness of Russian history and culture has been used by Russian leaders as a
means of influencing the EU, without identifying themselves with the European
integration or political regimes. However, while the EU and other Western countries are
no longer accepted as models for Russias domestic political system as they appeared
to be at the beginning of Yeltsins presidency , there is no rejection of
European/Western culture as such.
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3.2. Threat perceptions in the National Security Concept (2000)
Putins presidency started with a redefinition of the foreign policy, security and defence
doctrines. The review of the 1997 National Security Concept had started two years later
at the Security Council of the Russian Federation, which was then coordinated by Putin.
The updated document, published in January 2000, was the most comprehensive
summary of Russian security policy in that period; although it was linked to two other
main documents, the Foreign Policy Concept and the Military Doctrine, also updated in
2000. It is therefore the most appropriate text to analyse the security conceptions and
role identities that were present in Russias official discourse.
First, the new National Security Concept (Russia, 2000) continued with a trend that had
started in the previous document. It is considered that the objective of security policy is
to protect the individual, society, and the state from internal and external threats.
Moreover, it seems that society is the most important referent object, as it is stated that
Russias national security consists of the security of its multinational people, as the
bearer of sovereignty. National interests are defined as an adequate balance between
the interests of the individual, society and the state in the economic, political,
informational, military, environmental and other areas.
With regard to the political sector(Buzan et al., 1998: 144), one of the main perceived
threats at that moment was Russias own imperfect system of government, which
made it necessary to protect the stability of the constitutional regime and the
institutions. According to the document, there was an erosion of the unified legal
space in the national territory, with an insufficient obedience to norms and lack of
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coordination between administrative levels. The fight against this threat was one of
Putins first tasks as Russian president, centralising the decisionmaking process and
consolidating the power vertical within the state, with the Kremlin as the supreme
authority.
The inadequate governance of the country was intimately linked, according to the
Concept, to the problem of the criminalisation of social relations, with an extension of
organised crime and corruption to members of the executive and legislative powers.
This made it not just a matter for the police or the judiciary, but a real threat for the
stability of the state, in a clear example of securitization: the fight against organised
crime and corruption is not only of a legal nature, but also political (Russia, 2000).
The second main problem in the political realm was political or religious extremism
connected to separatism and terrorism, referring to the situation in the North Caucasus.
This had also been undertaken by Putin as another of his main tasks even before
becoming president, by starting the second war in Chechnya in October 1999.
With regard to foreign policy, the most important political threat was the diminishing
international influence of Russia, both as an individual actor and in the framework of
multilateral institutions such as the OSCE or the UN Security Council. The clearest
example of this marginalisation was European security, where NATO was proceeding
with its enlargement and had recently sustained an air campaign against Yugoslavia, in
spite of Moscows opposition. This was the reason for the critical remarks in the
document about the attempts of the West to achieve world domination and use military
force in violation of International Law. Therefore, the referent object that was
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endangered was not so much multilateralism in the international system, or its legal
regulation; but Russias influence as a great power.
Threats in the military sector(Buzan et al., 1998: 50-52) included the use of force by
NATO without the specific authorisation of the UN Security Council, the development
of new weapons technology by some powers such as the United States, and the
problems in the reform and modernisation of Russias armed forces. With regard to the
first two challenges, it must be noted that there is no mention of the possible harm to
Russias military security as a consequence of them, that is, why they are considered
military threats with national sovereignty and independence as the referent objects
instead of political threats for Russias international prestige and influence.
It seems unlikely that the documents authors could have possibly considered that
NATOs campaign against Yugoslavia could be repeated against a nuclear power like
Russia. Therefore, the real danger would not be so much a military threat in the
absence of any intention by Western powers to attack Russia but Moscows own
technological disadvantage and the crisis of its armed forces, mentioned as the third
military threat; as well as the countrys decreasing world influence, included in the
political sector of security. This is a case of an unjustified securitisation
understandable in the domestic political context at that time of normal rivalry with
Western powers, an inherent feature of the international system that should be included
in the usual conduction of foreign policy instead of the extraordinary realm of
security; unless there was a clear intention by other actors to harm Russia itself.
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In the societal sector (Buzan et al, 1998: 119-120), threats were centred on ethnic
selfishness, egocentrism and chauvinism, as well as the rise of nationalism as a reaction
to illegal immigration, and separatist trends. Moreover, the crisis of the healthcare
system, public health problems such as alcoholism or drug addiction and the reduction
of the life expectancy and the birth rate endangered national identity because of their
large scale that affected society as a whole.
However, it could be argued that this is another case of an unjustified securitization, and
that these problems should be dealt with in the framework of social or economic
policies, not security policy. Furthermore, the existence of communities with their own
identity in the context of a multinational state makes it necessary to reconcile their
legitimate demands by ordinary channels within political institutions; the label of
threat should be limited, therefore, to the attempts at achieving these goals by violent
means.
The economic sector (Buzan et al., 1998: 100-101) is especially relevant in the
document as a result of the internal crisis and its implications for national security:
reduction of the GDP and R&D, problems in the agrarian and financial sectors, internal
and external debt, dependence from exporting energy resources and raw materials, and
importing food products and consumer goods. These and other challenges such as brain
drain and the technological gap with other powers were directly linked to the level of
security in the military and other sectors, because of the reduced resources for defence
spending and the dependence from foreign technologies. Moreover, economic
inequalities between the rich and the poor and between more and less developed regions
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endangered social cohesion and fostered nationalist and separatist trends, causing
political and societal security to decrease.
With regard to the environmental sector, there are just generic references to the need to
protect nature, clearly indicating that this was not a priority for the authors of the
document. The main threats are the damage to the natural environment, overexploitation
of natural resources and the storage of dangerous waste products.
3.3. Threat perceptions in the National Security Strategy (2009)
The National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2020 (Russia, 2009) was
approved by President Medvedev in May 2009, a little over a year after his
inauguration. The strategy is part of a comprehensive review of security policy similar
to the one carried out by Putin in 2000 , which has also resulted in a new Foreign
Policy Concept (July 2008) and Military Doctrine (February 2010).
The document is noteworthy for two reasons. First of all, the new denomination
Strategy instead of Concept, as in the 1997 and 2000 versions , which is in line
with the terminology used in most Western countries and seems to be less ideological or
doctrinaire. Secondly, there are many innovations in the Strategy that set it apart from
the preceding documents: while the 2000 National Security Concept was merely an
update of the previous document, the current Strategy explicitly repeals the 2000
Concept, in what appears to be an attempt by Medvedev at avoiding to be perceived as
Putins heir, lacking a political project of his own.
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In spite of the context of global economic crisis, the Strategy is remarkable for its
optimism in comparison to the previous stage. It is considered that Russia has overcome
the internal crisis that started in the 1990s, resisted separatist trends and restored its
economic and defence power. However, the distinction between the individual, society
and the state as referents of security is preserved from the 2000 Concept. The economic
sector is granted a special priority, linking the Strategy with the Concept for Long-Term
Socio-Economic Development until 2020. Perhaps the main conceptual innovation,
apart from the change in the title, is the definition of a set of strategic national
priorities, which are the most important measures to be adopted in order to achieve an
adequate level of national security.
With regard to the strategic environment, in the political sectorthe insufficiency of
collective security mechanisms such as the United Nations Security Council, and the
predominance of NATO in the European security architecture, are still considered to be
threats to international security. However, there is neither a sense of urgency and danger
comparable to that of the 2000 Concept approved after the Kosovo war , nor a
perception that these threats are specifically directed against Russias military security.
On the contrary, it is stated that the country is better prepared to defend its influence in
the international arena in spite of competition from the West, due to Russias renewed
potential and the pragmatic policies a combination of sticks and carrots that have
guided it (Russia, 2009).
There are also increased opportunities for multilateral cooperation with different states,
organisations and groups as a way of promoting Russias interests; that does not only
include the BRIC, but also the EU, the United States and even NATO, as long as this
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cooperation is conducted in an equal and mutually beneficial way. We can see here a
certain de-securitisation of the rivalry for international influence, previously considered
to be one of the most serious threats due to Russias relative weakness; which placed it
in a disadvantaged position for negotiating with other great powers and, therefore, made
a non-cooperative attitude more likely in order to show strength to rival states. This
does not imply that this rivalry has decreased, as can be seen in the inclusion once
again of foreign intelligence activities as one of the threats for the security of the state.
In the military sector, the main concern is not a direct aggression by traditional means,
but new threats that do not exclusively affect Russia, but are shared by the majority of
the international society. Among them we find the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, the employment of new technologies as a weapon including in the
cyberspace and the possible use of all of them by terrorist networks; as well as
instability caused by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The preoccupation about the
development of new military technology by other powers and the need for advancing
Russias own military modernisation and reform is still present.
In the economic sector, but also with clear implications for society, there is an
increasing competition over scarce natural resources, not only oil or natural gas in the
Middle East, the Caspian or the Arctic , but also others such as water. Global
economic crises are considered comparable in terms of the damage caused to the large-
scale use of military force. Among the strategic priorities identified by the Strategy we
find a list of priorities for sustainable development, such as economic growth,
research, development and innovation. However, threats in this sector are not limited to
external factors, but also include Russias model of economic development based on
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an excessive dependence from exporting energy resources and the lack of progress in
other, more technologically intensive sectors, which also creates dependence from
imported foreign technologies. This is considered a problem of technological security,
in which we can see an example of securitisation, as this is perceived to cause
vulnerabilities for national security as a whole.
The societal sectoris affected by the rise of ethnic and religious radicalism, as well as
transnational criminal networks and illegal trafficking of people or drugs, apart from
domestic crime and corruption. At the same time, the extension of AIDS, TB,
alcoholism and drug addiction combined with the deficient situation of the public health
system also present a serious threat. New diseases that could become pandemics are also
considered to be likely, in another example of a global challenge not exclusively
directed against Russia.
Individuals appear more clearly now at least, in the text as referents of security, with
priority given to personal safety and welfare, including the right to a decent salary and
housing or to obtaining food and medicines, in a certain approximation to the concept of
human security. Investments in education, culture and healthcare are also considered
strategic priorities. The Secretary of Russias Security Council Nikolay Patrushev even
stated that providing good living conditions was as important for national security as the
traditional priorities of defence and security of the state (President of the Russian
Federation, 2009). Nonetheless, other issues seem to be affected by an excessive
securitisation: for example, the definition of the mass culture or the permissive
lifestyle as threats for Russias culture.
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With regard to the environmental sector, the quasi-assimilation of national security with
sustainable development Medvedev summarised the Strategys main idea as security
through development (President of the Russian Federation, 2009) was in itself a
radical shift in Russias official doctrine. The priorities for sustainable development,
added to traditional security priorities, include the ecology of living beings, rational use
of resources or less contaminating energy sources. However, the actual measures to
achieve these goals seem to be even less defined than in other areas.
4. CONCLUSION: IS CHANGE POSSIBLE?
Our conclusions are twofold: first, the Russian elites have primarily viewed their
country as a great power which should remain an autonomous international actor,
although there is also an increasing recognition of common threats that implies a
rejection of essentialist Eurasianist views, incompatible with cooperation with the West.
Secondly, Moscow has not only been concerned by safeguarding its territory, resources
or population, but also by the ideational security of its international role. This has
caused challenges to Russias great power identity to be perceived as equally important
for national interests as more traditional, material threats; and intertwined with them.
Medvedevs rapprochement with the EU and the United States through new
partnerships and treaties does not imply a coincidence of interests in all foreign policy
issues. By obtaining Western support for domestic reforms, oriented to make the state
more efficient and the economy more competitive, Russia has increased its own sense
of security both in the material and the ideational sense, being recognized as a great
power and an equal partner by Western countries. However, as the short Russo-
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Georgian war demonstrated, Moscow will still resort to military force when it perceives
that fundamental interests are at stake, as in the case of the unresolved conflicts in South
Ossetia and Abkhazia.
That said, the harsh rhetoric during periods of crisis tends to obscure the practical, more
pragmatic dialogue and cooperation which is conducted on a regular basis between
Russia and the West, both on a bilateral and multilateral format. Therefore, although
Moscows relative material power continues to be inferior in most areas to that of its
Western partners like the United States, NATO or the EU , this asymmetry is
perceived in a less threatening way thanks to the reduced sense of insecurity at the
ideational level. An explanation of Russias disagreements with the West as a reaction
to its international decline omits the fact that these equal partnerships have also been
pursued by the Kremlin as a way of achieving its own foreign policy goals.
It must be said that the official discourse has not always reflected the role identities
really assumed by political decisionmakers, as can be deduced by the actual policies that
were implemented. On the contrary, the different agencies that take part in security
policymaking have frequently pushed forward their own conceptions of Russias role
identity to advance their own bureaucratic interests. For example, the armed forces have
been the most reluctant to stop considering NATO as a military threat, in the context of
a fierce competition over the security budget and military reform; which explains the
apparent contradiction between Russias desire to cooperate with the Alliance and its
definition of the same as a threat to national security.
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By accepting that role identities are not static, but evolve in the process of socialisation
and interaction with other states, as well as being influenced by the political leaders
own ideas and conceptions, we have introduced a dynamic factor into our theoretical
model in order to explain changes in security perceptions. However, as we have seen,
the need for ontological security usually prevents radical shifts in security policy, which
has contributed to moderate both Russias cooperative and uncooperative attitudes
towards the West
The increased sense of ideational security in the international arena has allowed the
Kremlin to recognise its own internal problems as the more serious for national security
across all sectors. However, the fragile basis of this new assertiveness of Russia as a
great power underscores the need for a security policy that translates the rhetoric of the
official discourse into practical measures to reduce the vulnerabilities that are most
pressing. In addition to that, there is still an excessive trend to securitise all the
problems that are considered important for the country; which can result in many of the
strategic priorities being reduced to the realm of ordinary politics, because of the lack
of resources to grant them a higher priority.
At the same time, the increasing importance of the societal, economic and
environmental sectors in the security doctrine can facilitate although gradually and in
the long term a real change in the mindset of all the actors who participate in security
policy decisionmaking, balancing the traditional bias towards military or political
security issues. A more influential role for non-governmental actors in establishing the
strategic priorities seems, however, much less likely.
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