Understanding Russian Strategic Behavior: Imperial Strategic Culture and Putin's Operational Code

263 Pages·2022·6.491 MB·English

by  Graeme P. Herd

Nothing is straightforward about Russian strategic culture, and the book examines
rigorously its rich contradictions and distortions. Dr. Herd’s conceptualizations are
challengingly innovative, generalizations are convincing, and the attention to detail is
impeccable – a rewarding read indeed.
—Pavel Baev, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Norway
Is Putin’s R ussia something new and distinctive, or the inevitable product of R ussia’s
history? As this densely-argued and conceptually-rich book argues, to understand
tomorrow’s decisions, we need to place them not just within the context of the
operational code of today’s leaders, but a strategic culture that has been forming for
centuries.
—Mark Galeotti, University College London, UK
This fascinating book offers a timely and comprehensive scholarly investigation of the
historical and cultural roots of contemporary Russian foreign policy. Prof. Herd pro-
vides the most detailed and informed analysis to date of the many strands and themes
in Russian strategic culture, and demonstrates how these long-standing beliefs and
norms continue to shape Russian foreign policy today.
—David Lewis, University of Exeter, UK
Understanding Russian Strategic Behavior: Imperial Strategic Culture and Putin’s Operational
Code is a masterstroke from Herd – it manages to “solve” Churchill’s “R ussia riddle.”
Blending various aspects of Putin’s R ussia into a wide ranging and clever text, Herd
meticulously plots the drivers of R ussian strategy and behavior under Vladimir Putin.
Herd diligently incorporates contemporary strategic affairs into the text and in ana-
lyzing Kremlin responses, the book imparts on the reader a clear understanding of
how and why Putin’s Russia operates. Engaging and accessible, the book will be of
interest to Russianists (new and old hand) across all stages of academia, various govern-
ment agencies and even the private sector. Herd’s book will no doubt assist those seek-
ing to navigate the complex world of Russian strategic behavior. This book is a crucial
guide understanding a key stakeholder in the international security environment and
indeed, a signifcant shaper of strategic competition yet to come.
—Elizabeth Buchanan, Australian War College,
Canberra and Fellow of Modern War Institute, West Point, USA
An excellent examination of the reasons why North American, the EU and Britain
are stuck in a strategic confrontation with R ussia. Russian strategic culture, as Herd
convincingly shows, has seen many changes from the Czarist times to the present.
Under Putin, however, the ruling elite had defned Russia’s strategic interests and val-
ues as incompatible with those of the West. This has created “a new normal” that has
made it diffcult to fnd a way out of what essentially is a dead end.
—Hannes Adomeit, Senior Fellow, Institute for Security Studies
at Kiel University (ISPK), Germany

UNDERSTANDING RUSSIAN
STRATEGIC BEHAVIOR
This book examines the extent to which R ussia’s strategic behavior is the product
of its imperial strategic culture and Putin’s own operational code.
The work argues that by confating personalistic regime survival with national
security, Putin ensures that contemporary R ussian national interest, as expressed
through strategic behavior, is the synthesis of a peculiar troika: a long-standing
imperial strategic culture, rooted in a partially imagined past; the operational
code of a counter-intelligence president and decision-making elite and the realities
of Russia as a hybrid state. The book frst examines the role of structure and
agency in shaping contemporary R ussian strategic behavior. It then provides a
conceptual understanding of strategic culture and applies this to Tsarist and Soviet
historical developments. The book’s analysis of the operational code, however,
demonstrates that Putinism is more than the sum of the past. At the end, the book
assesses Putin’s statecraft and stress-tests our assumptions about the exercise of
contemporary power in R ussia and the structure of Putin’s agency.
This book will be of interest to students of R ussian politics and foreign policy,
strategic studies and international relations.
Graeme P. Herd is Professor of Transnational Security Studies and Chair of the
Research and Policy Analysis Department at the George C. Marshall European
Center for Security Studies, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Contemporary Security Studies
Series Editors: James Gow and Rachel Kerr, King’s College London
This series focuses on new research across the spectrum of international peace and
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Edited by Paul Lushenko, Srinjoy Bose, and William Maley
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
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UNDERSTANDING
RUSSIAN STRATEGIC
BEHAVIOR
Imperial Strategic Culture and
Putin’s Operational Code
Graeme P. Herd
Cover image: © Getty Images
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Graeme P. Herd
The right of Graeme P. Herd to be identifed as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Herd, Graeme P. author.
Title: Understanding Russian strategic behavior : imperial strategic
culture and Putin’s operational code / Graeme P. Herd.
Description: London ; New York, NY : Routledge, Taylor & Francis
Group, 2022. | Series: Contemporary security studies | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifers: LCCN 2021040853 (print) | LCCN 2021040854 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367205218 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367205225 (paperback) |
ISBN 9780429261985 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: National security—Russia (Federation) | Putin, Vladimir
Vladimirovich, 1952—Political and social views. | Russia (Federation)-
Russia (Federation) | Russia (Federation) | Russia (Federation)—
Foreign relations.
Classifcation: LCC UA770 .H46 2022 (print) | LCC UA770 (ebook) |
DDC 355/.033547—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021040853
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021040854
ISBN: 978-0-367-20521-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-20522-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-26198-5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9780429261985
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
This book is dedicated to Lt. Gen. (ret) Keith W. Dayton,
Director, George C. Marshall European Center for
Security Studies (GCMC), December 2010 to May 2021.
This dedication, in its small way, honors Gen Dayton’s
Foreign Area Offce training, his commitment to defense
diplomacy throughout his career and, especially, and
more personally, marks my appreciation of his leadership
at the GCMC, where he encouraged critical and refective
thinking toward Churchill’s “riddle, wrapped in a mystery,
inside an enigma.”

CONTENTS
List of Tables x
Acknowledgments xi
1 Introduction: Understanding Russian strategic behavior 1
2 Russian strategic culture: Conceptualization and evolution 25
3 The “inner logic” of Tsarist imperial history 53
4 Soviet legacies: Stalin, Brezhnev and Putin 81
5 “Putinism” and Russia’s hybrid state: Policies, practice and
performance 107
6 Putin’s operational code: Inferences and implications for
regime stability 135
7 Russia’s global reach: Reality and rhetoric 162
8 Putin, the collective Putin and alternative power transition
scenarios 186
9 Conclusions: Putin’s paradoxes, institutional subcultures
and world order 208
Index 232