Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Abstract
This review essay critically examines cultural explanations of deterrence and coercion, focusing on Dmitry Adamsky’s The Russian Way of Deterrence as the most important recent effort to explain Russian strategic behavior through the lens of strategic culture. While recognizing the book’s considerable strengths in describing Russian concepts, terminology, and practices of deterrence and coercion, the essay questions how much explanatory leverage culture actually provides. It argues that cultural approaches risk over-complexifying the Russian case while under-specifying causal relationships, and asks why distinctive strategic cultures do not produce greater variation in coercive behavior and outcomes. The essay contrasts cultural interpretation with comparative social-science approaches that emphasize capabilities, organizational constraints, leader beliefs, coercive bargaining, and interaction effects. Russia’s nuclear threats during the war against Ukraine provide a contemporary test case for assessing whether apparently distinctive Russian behavior is better explained by strategic culture or by more general mechanisms of deterrence, compellence, escalation, and nuclear risk. The essay concludes that cultural knowledge can enrich analysis, but should supplement rather than substitute for systematic, testable explanations of coercive behavior.
Comments
© Cynthia A. Roberts. Originally published in Texas National Security Review. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.