When the Internal and External Collide: A Social Constructivist Reading of Russia's Security Policy

This study investigates the evolution of Russia’s internal and external security priorities and state identity under President Putin through the prism of its narrative on the war on terror. Drawing on social constructivist theories of identity, security and narratives, it argues a change occurred from the regime conceptualising Russia as a weak state, which prioritised the internal security threats and the fight against terrorism in the early period, to a strong state, whose main security ‘Other’ was the West. As a result, the Russian leadership have relegated the fight against terrorism to an operational level and now emphasises the struggle to defend their strength from external pressure