19th Century Thinking

From the BBC:

Neil MacFarlane, Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford, believes Russia’s relations with its neighbours are governed by an approach which differs widely from that of the West.

“To judge from what the Russians say about their space, they are operating on a 19th Century theory of international relations which is based on the distribution of power, on competition between great powers, on the need to secure preponderant influence over contested spaces,” he says.

“We may be living post-historically. Russia is not.”