Why the bear kicked the hornet’s nest : Causal processes of Russian foreign policy on Syria

• Main Author: Avenäs, Sebastian
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen 2017
• Subjects: Russia; Syria; military intervention; rational choice theory; rational actor model; bounded rationality; process-tracing; causal process; Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies); Statsvetenskap (exklusive studier av offentlig förvaltning och globaliseringsstudier); Political Science; Statsvetenskap
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-313994

This paper examines causal mechanisms of the process leading up to the Russian military intervention in Syria that began in September 2015. It aims to concretize the causal processes of three different hypotheses that are based on commonplace assumptions of Russian foreign policy on Syria. It thoroughly explores three different causal paths, mapping events that may have had implications to the apparent change of heart within the Russian leadership. The paper analyses the relevance of these processes through a rational choice theory framework.