Julie Fedor, Andrey Makarychev, Andreas Umland, George Soroka, Tomasz Stępniewski, Gergana Dimova 

Special Sections: Russian Foreign Policy Towards the “Near Abroad” and Russia's Annexation of Crimea II This special section deals with Russia’s post-Maidan foreign policy towards the so-called “near abroad,” or the former Soviet states. This is an important and timely topic, as Russia’s policy perspectives have changed dramatically since 2013/2014, as have those of its neighbors. The Kremlin today is paradoxically following an aggressive “realist” agenda that seeks to clearly delineate its sphere of influence in Europe and Eurasia while simultaneously attempting to promote “soft-power” and a historical-civilizational justification for its recent actions in Ukraine (and elsewhere). The result is an often perplexing amalgam of policy positions that are difficult to disentangle. The contributors to this special issue are all regional specialists based either in Europe or the United States.  

Gergana Dimova received her Ph.D. from Harvard University, and has subsequently assumed research and teaching positions at the University of Cambridge and at Winchester University in the UK. Her most recent book is Democracy beyond Elections (Palgrave 2019) and her forthcoming book is Political Uncertainty (ibidem 2020). She is the convenor of the Anti-Politics Specialist Group of the UK Political Science Association. Her academic articles have been published in Demokratizatsiya, Observatorio, Global Media Journal, and others. Her expertise has been featured in the Atlantic Council, Huffington Post, the LSE Policy Institute, Global Risk Insights, and Bulgarian TV and radio. She serves on the editorial board of Democratic Theory, Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, and Journal of Liberty and International Affairs, and consults for the European Commission.

George Soroka received his PhD in Political Science from Harvard University, from where he also holds an AM in Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies. His primary research interests focus on the politics of history in the post-communist region, though he is also working on projects that examine the role of religion in politics and status-seeking behavior in international relations. Currently, he is completing a monograph detailing how contentious historical interpretations function in defining contemporary foreign-policy objectives between Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. His publications have appeared (or are forthcoming) in East European Politics and Societies, Foreign Affairs, Problems of Post-Communism, and the Journal of Democracy, among other outlets.

Tomasz Stępniewski, Doctor Habilitatus (Polish Academy of Sciences) is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Political Science and Public Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin and Deputy Director at the Institute of Central Europe (IEŚ), Lublin. He is a former research fellow at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (2005, 2006, and 2015), Carnegie Moscow Centre and elsewhere. His main research interests include the EU’s policy towards its eastern neighborhood, international relations of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Russia’s policy towards Eastern Europe. His most recent publications include Ukraine after Maidan: Revisiting Domestic and Regional Security (ibidem 2018) (co-edited with George Soroka).

Andreas Umland (Dr.Phil. FU Berlin, Ph.D. Cambridge) is a Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI) in Stockholm and Senior Expert at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future (UIM) in Kyiv, as well as editor of the book series Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society (ibidem-Verlag, 2004–). His articles have appeared in, among others, e-Foreign Affairs, e-Foreign Policy, Harvard International Review, World Affairs, Survival, Political Studies Review, Perspectives on Politics, European Political Science, Journal of Democracy, Terrorism and Political Violence, European History Quarterly, Europe-Asia Studies, Problems of Post-Communism, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, The Russian Review, Nationalities Papers, East European Jewish Affairs, Journal of Slavic Military Studies, Demokratizatsiya, Internationale Politik, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, Osteuropa, Jahrbuch für Ostrecht, Politicheskie issledovaniia, and Voprosy filosofii.