Patterns of Russian Foreign Policy Behavior in the Middle East after the Arab Uprisings

Subject Areas : International Relations

Seyed Hassan Mirfakhraei ¹

1 - Associate professor, Department of International relations, Allameh Tabataba'i University

Received: 2019-08-27 Accepted : 2021-03-04 Published : 2021-03-04

Keywords: Iran, Russia, Turkey, Middle East, Arab Uprisings,

Abstract :

As the wave of uprising of the masses raised in Middle East since 2011, we have seen an evaluation in Russian foreign policy behavior. The behavior that could be analyzed thorough Offensive realism. In this regard, Russia showed a passive behavior in Libya and Tunisia, and the experience then lead to forming a triple soft, hard and smart approach toward Syria. The approach that included political negotiations as well as military intervention all together. At the same time, special skill was shown by Moscow on interactions with conflicting-interest regional actors such as Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The skill was interpreted on a balancing approach. All these approaches led to the patterns of Russian foreign policy behavior in Middle East, that was shown in Qatar political crisis. The vacuum left by the United States presence in the region was also a key element. This paper aims to study the Russian foreign policy behavior in Middle East thorough descriptive-analytical method.

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