Abstract
This chapter begins with an examination of the structural factors which underpinned the development of the Cold War in the first 15 years. It is argued that the emerging bipolar structure (and accompanying bipolarization) was an important precursor to the development of the Cold War because it pitted the US and the Soviet Union against one another—by forcing them to face one another. Importantly, key differences emerge when the Cold War is compared with the structure underlying the current US-Russia relationship. The current state of the relationship is that the US represents the (fading) unipole while Russia is in decline, much different from the superpower competition of the Cold War. Furthermore, where the two sides mainly conflict is geographically confined to Eastern Europe and the Middle East, far different from the truly global struggle of the Cold War.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Acharya, A. (2014). Power Shift or Paradigm Shift? China’s Rise and Asia’s Emerging Security Order. International Studies Quarterly, 58(1), 158–173.
van Alstein, M. (2009). The Meaning of Hostile Bipolarization: Interpreting the Origins of the Cold War. Cold War History, 9(3), 301–319. https://doi.org/10.1080/14682740902981395
Ambrosio, T. (2001). Russia’s Quest for Multipolarity: A Response to US Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era. European Security, 10(1), 45–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/09662830108407482
Averre, D. (2009). Competing Rationalities: Russia, the EU and the “Shared Neighbourhood”. Europe-Asia Studies, 61(10), 1689–1713.
Babones, S. (2015). American Hegemony is Here to Stay. The National Interest. Retrieved April 26, 2018, from http://nationalinterest.org/feature/american-hegemony-here-stay-13089
Bremmer, I., & Roubini, N. (2011). A G-Zero World-The New Economic Club Will Produce Conflict, Not Cooperation. Foreign Affairs, 90(2), 2–7.
Brooks, S. G., & Wohlforth, W. C. (2010). World Out of Balance: International Relations and the Challenge of American Primacy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Buzan, B., & Wæver, O. (2003). Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Calabrese, A. (2005). Casus Belli: U.S. Media and the Justification of the Iraq War. Television & New Media, 6(2), 153–175. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476404273952
Cox, M. (1990). From the Truman Doctrine to the Second Superpower Detente: The Rise and Fall of the Cold War. Journal of Peace Research, 27(1), 25–41.
Criss, N. B. (1997). Strategic Nuclear Missiles in Turkey: The Jupiter Affair, 1959–1963. The Journal of Strategic Studies, 20(3), 97–122.
Gaddis, J. L. (1974). Was the Truman Doctrine a Real Turning Point? Foreign Affairs, 52(2), 386–402.
Gaddis, J. L. (2006). The Cold War: A New History. New York: Penguin.
Holloway, D. (2010). Nuclear Weapons and the Escalation of the Cold War, 1945–1962. In M. P. Leffler & O. A. Westad (Eds.), The Cambridge History of the Cold War: Volume 1: Origins (pp. 376–397). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521837194.019
Krauthammer, C. (1990). The Unipolar Moment. Foreign Affairs, 70(1), 23–33.
Kubicek, P. (1999). Russian Foreign Policy and the West. Political Science Quarterly, 114(4), 547–568.
Lake, D. A. (1997). Regional Security Complexes: A Systems Approach. In D. A. Lake & P. M. Morgan (Eds.), Regional Orders: Building Security in a New World (pp. 45–67). University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Lake, D. A. (2009). Regional Hierarchy: Authority and Local International Order. Review of International Studies, 35(S1), 35–58.
Layne, C. (2009). The Waning of US Hegemony–Myth or Reality? A Review Essay. International Security, 34(1), 147–172.
Layne, C. (2012). This Time It’s Real: The End of Unipolarity and the Pax Americana. International Studies Quarterly, 56(1), 203–213. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2478.2011.00704.x
Mastanduno, M. (1997). Realist Theories and U.S. Grand Strategy after the Cold War. International Security, 21(4), 49–88.
Mearsheimer, J. J. (2013). Structural Realism. In T. Dunne, M. Kurki, & S. Smith (Eds.), International Relations Theories (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Merrill, D. (2006). The Truman Doctrine: Containing Communism and Modernity. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 36(1), 27–37. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5705.2006.00284.x
Motyl, A. J. (2014). Putin’s Zugzwang: The Russia–Ukraine Standoff. World Affairs, 177(2), 58–65.
Peterson, J. (2018). Present at the Destruction? The Liberal Order in the Trump Era. The International Spectator, 53(1), 28–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/03932729.2018.1421295
Posen, B. P. (2009). Emerging Multipolarity: Why Should We Care? Current History, 108(721), 347–352.
Rapkin, D. P., Thompson, W. R., & Christopherson, J. A. (1979). Bipolarity and Bipolarization in the Cold War Era. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 23(2), 261–295. https://doi.org/10.1177/002200277902300203
Roberts, G. (1994). Moscow and the Marshall Plan: Politics, Ideology and the Onset of the Cold War, 1947. Europe-Asia Studies, 46(8), 1371–1386.
Rojecki, A. (2008). Rhetorical Alchemy: American Exceptionalism and the War on Terror. Political Communication, 25(1), 67–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600701807935
Sakwa, R. (2008). “New Cold War” or Twenty Years’ Crisis? Russia and International Politics. International Affairs, 2, 241–267.
Schmidt, B. C., & Williams, M. C. (2008). The Bush Doctrine and the Iraq War: Neoconservatives Versus Realists. Security Studies, 17(2), 191–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/09636410802098990
Schweller, R. L. (1993). Tripolarity and the Second World War. International Studies Quarterly, 37(1), 73–103.
Schweller, R. L. (1998). Deadly Imbalances: Tripolarity and Hitler’s Strategy of World Conquest. New York: Columbia University Press.
Schweller, R. L. (2018). Opposite but Compatible Nationalisms: A Neoclassical Realist Approach to the Future of US–China Relations. The Chinese Journal of International Politics, 11(1), 23–48.
Simons, G., & Chifu, I. (2017). The Changing Face of Warfare in the 21st Century. Abingdon: Routledge.
Smith, N. R. (2015). The EU and Russia’s Conflicting Regime Preferences in Ukraine: Assessing Regime Promotion Strategies in the Scope of the Ukraine Crisis. European Security, 24(4), 525–540. https://doi.org/10.1080/09662839.2015.1027768
Smith, N. R. (2017). Assessing the Trajectory of West-Russia Relations in Eastern Europe: Gauging Three Potential Scenarios. Global Policy. Retrieved from https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/articles/conflict-and-security/assessing-trajectory-west-russia-relations-eastern-europe-gauging-thr.
Smith, N. R. (2019). Could Russia Utilize Cryptocurrencies in Its Foreign Policy Grand Strategizing? Russia in Global Affairs, 17(2).
Stent, A. (2016). Putin’s Power Play in Syria How to Respond to Russia’s Intervention. Foreign Affairs, 95(1), 106–113.
Taliaferro, J. W. (2004). Power Politics and the Balance of Risk: Hypotheses on Great Power Intervention in the Periphery. Political Psychology, 25(2), 177–211. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2004.00368.x
Tillema, H. K. (1994). Cold War Alliance and Overt Military Intervention, 1945–1991. International Interactions, 20(3), 249–278. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050629408434850
Trenin, D. (2018). The New Cold War is Boiling Over in Syria. Foreign Policy. Retrieved April 26, 2018, from http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/04/14/the-new-cold-war-is-boiling-over-in-syria/
Tsygankov, A. P. (2005). Vladimir Putin’s Vision of Russia as a Normal Great Power. Post-Soviet Affairs, 21(2), 132–158. https://doi.org/10.2747/1060-586X.21.2.132
Tsygankov, A. P. (2010). Russia’s Foreign Policy: Change and Continuity in National Identity. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Tsygankov, A. P., & Tarver-Wahlquist, M. (2009). Duelling Honors: Power, Identity and the Russia–Georgia Divide. Foreign Policy Analysis, 5(4), 307–326.
Wæver, O. (2017). International Leadership after the Demise of the Last Superpower: System Structure and Stewardship. Chinese Political Science Review, 2(4), 452–476. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41111-017-0086-7
Weber, S. (1990). Realism, Detente, and Nuclear Weapons. International Organization, 44(1), 55–82. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818300004641
Werth, A. (1952). The Zigzags of Soviet Foreign Policy. The Political Quarterly, 23(1), 32–48. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-923X.1952.tb02686.x
White, M. (1995). The Cuban Missile Crisis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wohlforth, W. C. (1993). The Elusive Balance: Power and Perceptions During the Cold War. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Wohlforth, W. C. (1999). The Stability of a Unipolar World. International Security, 24(1), 5–41. https://doi.org/10.1162/016228899560031
Wohlforth, W. C. (2009). Unipolarity, Status Competition, and Great Power War. World Politics, 61(1), 28–57. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887109000021
Wohlforth, W. C., & Brooks, S. G. (2015). American Primacy in Perspective. In D. Skidmore (Ed.), Paradoxes of Power (pp. 29–38). New York: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Smith, N.R. (2020). The Structural Dimension of US-Russia Relations. In: A New Cold War?. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20675-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20675-8_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-20674-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-20675-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)