| Inspired by Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations , this essay shows the oft-overlooked relevance of considering the role of religious institutions in the formulation of contemporary Russian foreign policy. It is argued that this relevance stems from the Orthodox Church's long history, going back to the Byzantine Empire, of having a close relationship with the temporal state (concept of symphonia). In Russia's specific case, the interest of the Church for state affairs can be observed not only in the pre-imperial period, but all throughout the twentieth century. This essay enterprises to conceptualize the link between the influence of religious institutions in Russia, both the Moscow Patriarchate and the Muslim minority, and how they influence the state's foreign policy towards the Islamic world. To do so, the present essay proposes to use a poststructuralist approach centered on discourse analysis, thereby focusing the debate on the role of agency in foreign policy formulation.;Keywords: Russia, religion, poststructuralism, foreign policy, Clash of Civilizations, Islamic world. |
