In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

REVIEWS 591 of the ‘politics of the present’. However, thanks to his research for this book he ended up concluding that ideological factors played a larger role than he had initially assumed. Concerns about corruption and lack of transparency in Polish politics were genuinely held and played into the discussions about transitional justice, particularly on the right. On the other hand, politicians on the liberal-left were also guided by principle in their opposition to radical approaches towards truth revelation. For example, they viewed the court-based system established in 1997 as a fairer and more reliable method of proceeding. Overall, ‘protagonists on both sides were driven by a complex interplay of ideational and interest-based impulses and concerns’ (p. 187). Politicising the Communist Past also investigates a related debate about the significance of public support for more radical truth revelation policies. On the one hand, such support clearly existed and exists. On the other, Szczerbiak argues that issues of transitional justice were rarely salient on their own: they were significant to the public in conjuction with other concerns about transparency and honesty in Polish politics. This is a rigorously researched, clearly argued and solidly structured monograph which deserves to be in paperback as soon as possible. For the time being, readers of this review are advised to order it for their university library. UCL SSEES Anne White Tsygankov, Andrei P. (ed.). Routledge Handbook of Russian Foreign Policy. Routledge Handbooks. Routledge, Abingdon, and New York, 2018. xvi + 439 pp. Tables. Figures. Notes. Bibliographies. Index. £175.00. In view of the increasing importance of the study of contemporary Russian foreign policy and the growth in the academic literature seeking to describe and analyse it, the appearance of this volume is most welcome. Andrei P. Tsygankov’s Handbook comprises twenty-eight chapters by different authors, each critically examining the state of the field in the study of a particular facet of Russian foreign policy and including a bibliography. Tsygankov has divided the Handbook into four parts, each of which has an introduction written by him. The first part, which is perhaps the most weighty academically, concerns theoretical approaches to the field. The tools of foreign policy and some of the actors form the subject of the second part. The third and fourth parts examine policy towards particular states and regions and Russia’s interactions with international organizations, respectively. In the first part, Valentina Feklyunina provides an excellent chapter on constructivist approaches and identity issues. Viatcheslav Morozov discusses post-structuralist and post-colonialist interpretations. Realist studies are SEER, 97, 3, JULY 2019 592 examined by Elena Kropatcheva, who argues persuasively that neoclassical realism provides the most satisfactory of the approaches within the realist framework. John Berryman’s analysis of Russia’s geopolitical relationships from Kievan Rus´ to the present concludes that the treatment of Russia after the collapse of the USSR marked a missed opportunity to integrate it into international society. The role of Russian nationalism is considered by Luke March, who somewhat unusually but gracefully subjects some of his own work to criticism. Yuval Weber advocates the idea of Russia as a petrostate. In Part Two, Charles E. Ziegler writes what I think is the most useful chapter of the book. Entitled ‘Diplomacy’, it provides a description of the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, offering an overview of its policy. Other chapters deal with gas, the intelligence services, the military, cyberpower, and the media and public diplomacy. Nicolai N. Petro’s scholarly chapter on the Russian Orthodox Church argues that it has become the partner rather than an agent of the state. Among the highlights of Parts Three and Four, Natasha Kuhrt examines Russia’s ‘pivot to the East’. She finds the roots of this well before Western states imposed sanctions in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Kuhrt warns that in the future China may call on Russia for support in its maritime frontier disputes, where Moscow has so far managed to avoid entanglement. Ruth Deyermond’s careful analysis of Russia’s view of the Collective Security Treaty Organization shows how the body’s functions are evolving to include a capacity to resist...

pdf

Share