National Security Strategies of Russia (2009) and the United States (2010): A New Stage in the Reproduction of Incompatible National Identities

Trapara, Vladimir (2013) National Security Strategies of Russia (2009) and the United States (2010): A New Stage in the Reproduction of Incompatible National Identities. The Review of International Affairs, LXIV (1149). pp. 5-34. ISSN 0486-6096

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Abstract

The author carries out comparative analysis of the national security strategies of Russia (2009) and the United States (2010), to show how they serve in the reproduction of the two states’ incompatible national identities. This incompatibility is the main cause of Russia and the United States’ inability for real rapprochement, including the most recent attempt during the period of the adoption of these documents. The theoretical framework of the analysis is David Campbell’s performative theory, which considers foreign policy (including the adoption of foreign policy documents) as the central practice in constitution and reproduction of national identity. The analysis of the United States and Russia’s identities and their foreign policies shows that they are incompatible in many respects, which makes the two powers see each other as a threat in a globalized world. The conclusion of the most recent national security strategies’ comparative analysis in relation to values, threats and means is that they are only a new stage in the process of this incompatibility reproduction. The real rapprochement between Russia and the United States will become possible only when they find a way to establish a common identity, based on a common view of some external threat.

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