A Study On Russia’s Traditional European Balance Of Power Diplomacy

Since the establishment of the Westphalian system,Russia has always played a key role in participating in and maintaining the balance of European strategic power.It has not only played an important role as a balancer and leader of Vienna system in the nineteenth century,but also one of the most important pillars of the bipolar US-Soviet strategic balance of power system in the second half of the tenth century.It was through the use of the intricate contradictions and differences among European powers to build a balanced and mutually restrictive network of relations that enabled Russia to transform from an isolated weak country in Eastern Europe into a powerful empire spanning Europe and Asia in history.Thus,balance of power diplomacy can be described as one of Russia’s long-standing diplomatic traditions,and it is also a time-tested diplomatic art and an effective instrument of diplomacy.In view of this,this paper takes Russia’s traditional balance of power diplomacy as the main research subject and the development of international patterns as the background,namely,summarizes and reviews the historical evolution of Russia’s traditional balance of power diplomacy in Europe from the perspective of the reform of European regional balance of power system.Throughout history,Russia’s European balance of power diplomacy has been accompanied by major shifts in European regional balance of power,and has roughly gone through four stages of its development.From the perspective of strategic culture,this article explores the impact of the fundamental influencing factors of Russian diplomatic traditions,including cultural value,geographical concept,national spirit and religious consciousness on Russia’s traditional balance of power diplomacy,including the formation of its strategic concept,the establishment of its strategic goals,the choice of its strategic direction,and the implementation of its strategic means.In addition,by analyzing and comparing the balance of power diplomacy of Russia with that of other Central and Western European countries,this article summarizes and analyzes distinctive characteristics of Russia’s traditional European balance of power diplomacy,that is,the flexible and ingenious use of strategic tactics,such as avoiding direct confrontation with strong enemies,competing for weak states that can be manipulated to extend traditional sphere of influence,striving for overall balance of power while pursuing competitive advantages in certain strategic directions,collaborating with the weak so as to restrain the powerful.With the assistance of these diplomatic strategies,Russia aims at building a network of checks and balances through mediation and coordination among various power centers,in order to construct a European balance of power system that is conducive to safeguarding Russia’s national interests,security and stability.After the end of the Cold War,with the collapse of the Yalta balance of power system,current world’s political and economic situation has undergone fundamental changes and adjustments.The drastic change of the power pattern in Europe has created a new opportunity for Russia to construct a multipolar balance of power pattern in contemporary times,meanwhile it has also brought unprecedented strikes and challenges.Therefore,through a comprehensive analysis of the new political and economic situation faced by’s balance of power diplomacy towards Europe in the current era,this paper deeply explores Russia’s conception and trend of balance of power diplomacy at the European,Asian-Pacific and global levels,and tries to endow this balance of power tradition with distinctive characteristics of the times and strategic significance.