More than Putin: managed pluralism in Russia's foreign policy

Abstract

Abstract The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine took most experts by surprise, but before the war, there were numerous voices in the Russian public debate calling for much tougher policies towards Ukraine and the West than the ones pursued by the government. This article challenges explanations that prioritize external factors or focus solely on President Putin and shows that examining opposition, state media and government discourses is necessary to understand Russia's foreign policy properly. The article contends that the concept of managed pluralism (defined by Harley Balzer in 2003), which has not yet been used in the analysis of Moscow's international behaviour, is a useful tool that can address the gap in the literature and shed light on important mechanisms behind Russia's foreign policy-making. Consequently, the article reveals mechanisms that, by allowing certain voices while eliminating others, steer Russia's foreign policy in a specific direction, which in this case made the invasion of Ukraine possible. Finally, it indicates that observing actors admitted to the public debate and their propositions may be a clue to the direction of Russia's future foreign policy. More broadly, this article points to policy implications and theoretical benefits of managed pluralism for our understanding of other states' foreign policies.