Pang Dapeng

(№.3,2015)

Abstract:After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there has been a need for Russia to restore its relations with the outside world, which has served as an important part of the country's transition and development. Russia's relationship with the outside world is involved in a historical process with a widening gap between the country’s internal process and the external changes. The historical process and Russia's internal political order affect each other. Russia failed to integrate into the Western system at the initial critical moment in history, due to such factors as the eastward expansion of NATO, the war in Bosnia, Russia’s domestic political dynamics and the war in Chechnya. Even today, Russia has yet to strike a proper balance between its integration into and existence along with the outside world. Russia lacks a cognitive “other” which matches the former's modern country identity to construct its internal and external views of space. In addition, a series of events concerning international relations has occurred between Russia and the outside world since the end of the Cold War, causing both parties to suspect each other's perceptions, with Russia eventually leaning towards isolationism. Nevertheless, Russia itself and its internal situation may serve as the biggest threat to subject the country to isolation and an isolationist tendency.

Keywords:Russia; the outside world; political development