Russia in the Indo-Pacific

This volume zones in on Russia's relations with the Indo-Pacific region through the lens of theoretical pluralism, presenting alternatives to the mainstream Realist view of Russia as a major power using geopolitical strategies to establish itself. Russia in the Indo-Pacific is an understudied topic that needs a fresh perspective. Contributors to this volume are based across Russia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the USA, drawing on a range of multinational perspectives and theoretical approaches encompassing realism and liberalism, constructivism and the English school of international relations. Reflecting a trend of internationalization in the Russian study of IR, such theoretical pluralism could facilitate Russian contributions to emerging global IR theory. Russia in the Indo-Pacific contributes towards a more intelligible common discourse in the Indo-Pacific, of interest to students and scholars of Sino-Russian relations, Indo-Pacific international relations, and international relations theory. It will also be of interest to policymakers and general readers following foreign policy and economic trends in the Indo-Pacific who want to better understand Russia's role.

Gaye Christoffersen is Professor of International Politics, Johns Hopkins University, SAIS, Nanjing Center, Nanjing University. Recent publications include "Sino-Russian Local Relations: Heihe and Blagoveshchensk," Asan Forum, (2019); "Chinese, Russian, Japanese, and Korean Strategies for Northeast Asian Cross-Border Energy Connectivity," Joint U.S.-Korea Academic Studies Journal (2019); "Northeast China and the Russian Far East: Positive Scenarios and Negative Scenarios," in International Relations and Asia's Northern Tier: Sino-Russia Relations, North Korea, and Mongolia.

Part 1: China, Russia and US: Triangular Relations 1. China-Russia Relations in Times of Crisis: A Neoclassical Realist Explanation 2. Russia and the United States in the Asia Pacific: A Perspective of the English School 3. The 'Strategic Triangle' Revisited Part 2: Foreign Policy Identities 4. Primordial Rites or Civic Values? Korean Identity and Its Formation in the Russian Far East 5. Strategic Partnership or Alliance? Sino-Russian Relations from a Constructivist Perspective Part 3: Russia's Regional Relations 6. The Sino-Russian Partnership and the East Asian Order 7. The Vestige of History and "Cold Peace" between Russia and Japan 8. Sino-Russian Accommodation and Adaptation in Eurasian Regional Order Formation 9. Russia and Southeast Asia: The Road Less Traveled Part 4: Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy 10. The Significance of Russia to China: Research Methods in Russian-Soviet Union Studies in China 11. Russian methodological and theoretical approaches to the analysis of Sino-Russian relations in 1990s-2010s