Revisiting the Causes of Russian Foreign Policy Changes: Incoherent Biographical Narrative, Recognition and Russia's Ontological Security-Seeking

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between international practices of recognition and state quest for ontological security, on the one hand, and Russia's most recent identity makeover as well as increasingly aggressive foreign policy, on the other. I argue that in order to understand Russia's growing belligerence in foreign and security policies we need to examine the connection between Western refusal to recognize Russia's great power self-image, the effects this refusal has had on Russia's ontological security, and a subsequent shift in Russia's self-description from pro-Western to civilizational.

BRICS as a Catalyst for Global Governance Transformation: Beyond Western Perceptions

“…As outlined by Tsygankov (2016), the quest for "identity" is a central tenet of social constructivism, whereby states engage with other members of the international community to forge connections that shape individual identities. Identity serves as a crucial component of collective ontological security, representing a stable recognition of a state's self-image derived from historical experiences and interactions with other states (Narozhna 2021). Consequently, Russia's self-identity hinges on how various regions of the world, including Africa, perceive Moscow.…”