Article on the declarative dimension of Russia's military operations

PhD Fellow in Political Science Ivan Ulises Kentros Klyszcz has published an article "Normative Dependency and the Use of Force" in St Antony's International Review, the peer-reviewed journal of the University of Oxford.

The article aims to present a structural explanation of the patterns of argumentation in Russia’s foreign policy declarative dimension. Drawing heavily from Viatcheslav Morozov’s post-colonial analysis of Russia’s foreign policy, the article sets out to look into Russia’s declarative regard for norms governing the use of force as reflected in its rhetorical strategies. A study of selected military operations carried out by post-Soviet Russia at home and abroad reveals that their declarative dimension exhibits a pattern of placing the normative pole outside Russia and into Western-leaning understandings of international norms. Two in-depth cases—the 1992 operation in Ingushetia and the 2015 intervention in Syria—highlight a consistent argumentative pattern that cuts across time, place, and the nature of the military operation. While further research is needed to conclusively characterise Russia’s rhetorical strategies regarding the use of force, it can be said that Moscow’s patterns of argumentation do not arise exclusively from tactical, short-term necessity; rather, they reflect Russia’s enduring condition in the international system.

Full reference: Ivan Kentros, “Normative Dependency and the Use of Force: The Declarative Dimension of Russia's Military Operation,” St Antony’s International Review 14. no. 2 (2019): 102-120.