US-Russia Relations in Syrian Conflict in the Mirror of Internal Political Debate within the Second Obama Administration (2012-2016)

Abstract

The research objective is as follows: to identify specifics of US-Russia interaction during the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, taking into account internal aspects of decision-making process by the second administration of Barack Obama. The main focus of the study concentrated around periods of Syrian conflict and its dynamic. This approach made possible to find out how flexible US’s and Russia’s positions were when it came to making decision on intervention in Syria, especially in terms of scale and instruments required for that purpose. Scientific originality of the study lies in new methodological approach towards great power politics analysis in regional conflicts. US behavior during the Syrian con-flict was placed at the core of the study. Levels of analysis were used in order to find out how different factors (both internal and external) influenced decisions made by Obama administration. The findings are as follows: contrary to demands of war protagonists who called the US president to intervene in Syria, Barack Obama vigorously resisted the decision to use force against regime of B. Assad in order to avoid mistakes made by George W. Bush, who dragged the United States into a protracted war in Iraq.

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Funding

The study was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Expert Institute for Social Research within the framework of the scientific project No. 21-011-31530.

Author information

About this article

Publication history

• Received: September 10, 2021.
• Published: October 29, 2021.

Keywords

• конфликт в Сирии
• Ближний Восток
• российско-американские отношения
• вторая администрация Б. Обамы
• внутриполитическая борьба
• conflict in Syria
• Middle East
• Russian-American relations
• B. Obama’s second administration
• internal political struggle

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