Ideas & Foreign Policy: The Institutionalisation of the ‘Russian Idea’ in Russia’s Foreign Natural Gas Policy Towards Ukraine

This thesis examines the institutionalisation of ideas in Russian foreign policy in order to gain a better understanding of Russian foreign natural gas policy and its broader implications on Russian/CIS relations. The main goal of this study is to explore how the Putin’s Presidency marked a change in Russian foreign policy (after 2000) after the previous decade of ‘liberalisation’ and ‘westernisation’. Drawing upon an engagement between historical institutionalism and Foreign Policy Analysis, the thesis focuses on how domestic arrangements, and relations between formal and informal institutions within Russia, impact on foreign natural gas policy. The thesis argues that after 2000, we see the emergence of a renewed form of Russian nationalism which has broader implications for the practice of government. Under the notion of the new "Russian idea", Russian-ness became increasingly defined by civilisational superiority and this underpins a new style of governing called ‘sovereign democracy’. This shapes the direction of foreign natural gas policy, and is even articulated through informal institutions such as the media and private companies. Utilising a case study on the Ukraine, the thesis reveals how the institutionalisation of the ‘Russian idea’ at the domestic level has important implications for Russia’s relations with its ‘near abroad’. As the 2014 Maiden crisis illustrates, the politics of Russian civilisational ‘patriotism’ also has wider repercussions for Europe and the ‘West’. Whilst focussing on natural gas policy, this thesis reveals the importance of the 'Russian idea' on foreign policy.