No one looks for religious overtones in the war unleashed by Putin against Ukraine. The tomos elevating the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to autocephaly, issued in 2019, irritated Putin. It undermined his thesis that Ukrainians belonged…
It was supposed to be a blog that would not give in to the pressure of commenting on current events. Its purpose was to describe present contexts from the perspective of the history of international…
The classic doctrine that referred to the concept of spheres of influence in modern times was the Monroe doctrine. The President of the USA formulated it in 1823. It stipulated that the USA would not allow…
Hegemonism, unlike imperialism, is a form of voluntary leadership that respects the subjectivity of partners. It is based on the uncontested domination of the hegemon, its decisive advantage in terms of power, and the asymmetric interdependence…
Interventionism in the name of expanding one’s own power as a goal in itself has taken the form of imperialism. Imperialism has always created bad associations, with time it has become a morally condemned concept, an…
When persuasion or pressure does not help, the state faces a serious dilemma whether to abandon the attempt to influence the behaviour of the partner (suspend or postpone the action), or enforce it directly, interfering…
The doctrines of using force as an argument in resolving political questions are as old as the world. “Power politics” or “Machtpolitik” are derivatives of the axiom that the relationship of power is the key to…
The key to ensuring the implementation of raison d’état is having adequate executive capacity. And executive capacity in the traditional paradigm of international relations is related to the notion of power. Power in international relations…
Raison d’etat is, simply put, the good of the state. The reflexive algorithm of foreign policy, that is of dealing with the outside world, is still to follow the interests of one’s own country. This…
I invite you to read my reflections on the doctrinal mechanisms of foreign policy. Every week for the next year I will deliberate on what constitutes the guiding principles in the activities of a diplomat.…
