REDEMOS Ideas Paper 1

REDEMOS Ideas Paper 1, August 2024
Putin, the Near Abroad, Leverage and Linkage
Download Working Paper

What did Putin misunderstand about Russia’s ‘near abroad’? In short, he did not understand that a higher linkage between Russia and its ‘near abroad’ could lead to increased leverage, not the other way around. A basic understanding of reverse sequence effects might have spared the world from the extraordinary human and material losses inflicted by the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. Before expanding on this answer, let us briefly recall what the concepts of leverage and linkage entail.

Keywords: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Leverage, Linkage, Democratization, Political transition, European Neighbourhood Policy
Citation: Buscaneanu, S. (2024). Putin, the near abroad, leverage and linkage. REDEMOS Ideas Paper 1. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379216
  • This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation
    programme under grant agreement No 101061738. The Associated Partner University of Surrey has received
    funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee
    under grant number 10040721. The Associated Partner University of St. Gallen has received funding from the Swiss
    State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation(SERI). Views and opinions expressed are however those
    of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, UKRI and SERI.

    Neither the European Union nor UKRI or SERI can be held responsible for them.