About this item
Highlights
- As US-Russian relations scrape the depths of cold-war antagonism, the promise of partnership that beguiled American administrations during the first post-Soviet decades increasingly appears to have been false from the start.
- About the Author: Thomas Graham is a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
- 224 Pages
- Political Science, Globalization
Description
Book Synopsis
As US-Russian relations scrape the depths of cold-war antagonism, the promise of partnership that beguiled American administrations during the first post-Soviet decades increasingly appears to have been false from the start. Why did American leaders persist in pursuing it? Was there another path that would have produced more constructive relations or better prepared Washington to face the challenge Russia poses today?
With a practitioner's eye honed during decades of work on Russian affairs, Thomas Graham deftly traces the evolution of opposing ideas of national purpose that created an inherent tension in relations. Getting Russia Right identifies the blind spots that prevented Washington from seeing Russia as it really is and crafting a policy to advance American interests without provoking an aggressive Russian response. Distilling the Putin factor to reveal the contours of the Russia challenge facing the United States whenever he departs the scene, Graham lays out a compelling way to deal with it so that the United States can continue to advance its interests in a rapidly changing world.
Also available as an audiobook.
Review Quotes
"Getting Russia Right is a much-needed contribution to a saner conversation about US policy toward Russia. Graham explains how and why relations with Russia fell apart and why repairing them remains a vital task. One hopes the Biden administration will pay close attention to this wise and balanced assessment."
Stephen Walt, Harvard University
"At a time when Putin's war against Ukraine leaves us enraged and determined to see him vanquished, but without a good explanation for how it all happened, along comes this gem of a book."
Robert Legvold, author of Return to Cold War
"Tom Graham has distilled a lifetime of experience, study, and reflection into this analysis of how Russia-US relations reached this current dark state - and how we can emerge in a better place. It should command close attention in any debate on how to manage relations with Russia when its horrific war with Ukraine eventually ends."
John McLaughlin, Johns Hopkins University
"A timely and provocative look back at US policy toward Russia after the Cold War. Tom Graham, one of America's most respected Russian experts, pinpoints the strategic differences between the US and Russia which led us to today. This is essential reading for those who aspire to get Russia (and China) policy right."
Dan Russell, US-Russia Business Council
"An explanation of what went wrong in US-Russian relations and an indictment of US post-Cold War Russia policy, which was done in by a mixture of hubris and impatience. Dealing with Russia is time-consuming and taxing, Graham argues, but ignoring it comes with its own price. This will also be true after the Ukraine war is over."
O.A. Westad, Yale University and author of The Cold War: A World History
"Thomas Graham has written a book about post-Soviet Russian foreign policy that everyone with an open mind and open heart needs to read. His fundamental point could not be more pertinent to the burning question of how to deal with the current Russian war in Ukraine: that Russia's choices on key issues, including and especially how to deal with Ukraine, are not the simple projection of pre-arranged agendas on the outside world but rather the byproduct of a complex set of interactions with that world, above all the United States. Consequently, the stabilization of Russia's relations with the Western world requires a reexamination of Western as well as Russian policies."
Allen Lynch, University of Virginia
"Thomas Graham's Getting Russia Right is a landmark book about U.S.-Russian relations, a deep analysis and set of recommendations from a leading scholar of the subject as well as a diplomat who knows this subject from the inside. This could not be a more timely or necessary book."
Michael C. Kimmage, The Catholic University of America
"Incisive."
Simon Saradzhyan, Russia Matters
"a comprehensive and thoughtful explanation of Russia on its own terms ... Graham does an outstanding job of describing how the permanently operating features of Russian history, geography, society, and government have shaped its approach to international affairs across the centuries"
Louis Sell, American Diplomacy
"A thoughtful reflection on U.S.-Russia relations ... full of keen insights."
National Interest
"There are two classic Russian questions about any problem: who is to blame, and what is to be done? In his trenchant critique of what went wrong in US-Russian relations after the Soviet collapse, Thomas Graham has answers for both."
Angela Stent, Survival
"an incisive analysis"
Rights in Russia
About the Author
Thomas Graham is a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He has worked on Soviet and Russian affairs for the past 40 years in and out of government. He served as the senior director for Russia on the National Security Council staff during the George W. Bush administration and as a political officer at the American Embassy in Moscow for eight years just before and after the breakup of the Soviet Union. His writings on Russian domestic politics and foreign policy and US-Russian relations have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, Financial Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, as well as in leading Russian news media.