Social Construction of Foreign Policy: Identities and Foreign Policies, Moscow, 1955 and 1999

In this deeply researched book Ted Hopf challenges contemporary theorizing about international relations. He advances what he believes is a commonsensical notion: a state's domestic identity has an enormous effect on its international policies. Hopf argues that foreign policy elites are inextricably bound to their own societies; in order to understand other states, they must first understand themselves. To comprehend Russian and Soviet foreign policy, "it is just as important to read what is being consumed on the Moscow subway as it is to conduct research in the Foreign Ministry archives," the author says.Hopf recreates the major currents in Russian/Soviet identity, reconstructing the "identity topographies" of two profoundly important years, 1955 and 1999. To provide insights about how Russians made sense of themselves in the post-Stalinist and late Yeltsin periods, he not only uses daily newspapers and official discourse, but also delves into works intended for mass consumption―popular novels, film reviews, ethnographic journals, high school textbooks, and memoirs. He explains how the different identities expressed in these varied materials shaped the worldviews of Soviet and Russian decisionmakers. Hopf finds that continuous renegotiations and clashes among competing domestic visions of national identity had a profound effect on Soviet and Russian foreign policy. Broadly speaking, Hopf shows that all international politics begins at home. In this deeply researched book Ted Hopf challenges contemporary theorizing about international relations. He advances what he believes is a commonsensical a state's domestic identity has an enormous effect on its international policies. Hopf argues that foreign policy elites are inextricably bound to their own societies; in order to understand other states, they must first understand themselves. To comprehend Russian and Soviet foreign policy, "it is just as important to read what is being consumed on the Moscow subway as it is to conduct research in the Foreign Ministry archives," the author says. Hopf recreates the major currents in Russian/Soviet identity, reconstructing the "identity topographies" of two profoundly important years, 1955 and 1999. To provide insights about how Russians made sense of themselves in the post-Stalinist and late Yeltsin periods, he not only uses daily newspapers and official discourse, but also delves into works intended for mass consumptionpopular novels, film reviews, ethnographic journals, high school textbooks, and memoirs. He explains how the different identities expressed in these varied materials shaped the worldviews of Soviet and Russian decisionmakers. Hopf finds that continuous renegotiations and clashes among competing domestic visions of national identity had a profound effect on Soviet and Russian foreign policy. Broadly speaking, Hopf shows that all international politics begins at home. default (1).png 0_Frontmatter 1_PREFACE_page_ix 2_1_CONSTRUCTIVISM_AT_HOME_Theory_and_Method_page_1 3_2_THE_RUSSIAN_NATION_NEW_SOVIET_MAN_CLASS_AND_MODERNITY_Identity_Relations_in_1955_page_39 4_3_IDENTITIES_AS_SOCIAL_STRUCTURES_Enabling_and_Constraining_Soviet_Alliance_Choices_in_1955_page_83 5_4_HISTORICAL_INTERNAL_AND_EXTERNAL_OTHERS_Russian_Identity_in_1999_page_153 6_5_THE_UNIPOLAR_WORLD_Recentering_a_Peripheral_Russia_in_1999_page_211 7_6_IDENTITY_FOREIGN_POLICY_AND_IR_THEORY_page_259 8_INDEX_page_297 Constructivism at home : theory and method The Russian nation, new Soviet man, class and modernity : identity relations in 1955 Identities as social structures : enabling and constraining Soviet alliance choices in 1955 Historical, internal, and external others : Russian identity in 1999 The unipolar world : recentering a peripheral Russia in 1999 Identity, foreign policy, and IR theory.