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The US-Russia Conflict in the Ukrainian Crisis: Unipolarism Versus Revisionism?

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US Foreign Policy in a Challenging World

Abstract

This chapter seeks to analyse the causes of the clash between the United States and Russia over the Ukrainian question since the 1990s. Despite America’s evident military and economic superiority, Russia has continued to constitute a potential challenger, in terms of revisionist power, especially since Putin’s rise to power. In this perspective, the paper starts by presenting an overview of the country’s difficult situation from independence to the crisis now under way and then goes on to examine the reasons for this crisis in relation to the three aims pursued by US foreign policy in post-communist Europe, namely the promotion of democracy, expansion of the EU and enlargement of NATO.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For an interesting discussion of the debate on neorealist pessimism, see Glaser (1994).

  2. 2.

    Over 150 legislatives initiatives in favour of Ukraine were promoted by Congress between 1970 and 1979 (Kaminski and Haran 1996).

  3. 3.

    The Basic Provisions of the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation, approved by the Russian Federation Security Council at its session on 2 November 1993.

  4. 4.

    Human rights watchdogs and figures in the EU have drawn attention to many cases of selective use of the judiciary for political reasons. While Tymoshenko is the most prominent case, charges were brought against nearly a dozen other top officials from her government. A number of criminal investigations were launched against leading members of the former government at the end of 2010. The former minister of the interior Yuriy Lutsenko and deputy justice minister Yevhen Korniychuk were arrested, criminal charges against Tymoshenko restricted her political activities and the former minister of the economy Bohdan Danylyshyn obtained political asylum in the Czech Republic after a Ukrainian court ordered his arrest.

  5. 5.

    Petro Poroshenko won the presidential elections in May 2014 on a pro-EU platform.

  6. 6.

    International Election Observation Mission, 31 October 2004.

  7. 7.

    For an interpretation of the EU as security actor see, inter alia, Buzan and Wæver (2003), Tardy (2009), Lucarelli and Fioramonti (2010), Renard (2014).

  8. 8.

    The tough negotions on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership provide clear confirmation of the divergence of interests between the USA and the EU on energy policy.

  9. 9.

    Financial Times (2015). www.ft.com/content/minskagreement/.

  10. 10.

    Senator Richard Burr, Washington Post, 7 January 2017.

  11. 11.

    Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, 15 February 2017 (CNN).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political and Social Sciences, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy

    Barbara Pisciotta

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  1. Barbara Pisciotta
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Correspondence to Barbara Pisciotta .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Marco Clementi

  2. Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Matteo Dian

  3. Department of Political and Social Sciences, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy

    Barbara Pisciotta

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Pisciotta, B. (2018). The US-Russia Conflict in the Ukrainian Crisis: Unipolarism Versus Revisionism?. In: Clementi, M., Dian, M., Pisciotta, B. (eds) US Foreign Policy in a Challenging World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54118-1_10

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