Besting the West: Russia's Machiavella Strategy

'Besting the West' applies the concept of a 'gender game and strategy' to an analysis of the changing Russian response to NATO expansion from the end of the Cold War through the signing of the NATO-Russia Founding Act in May 1997. The article is divided into three sections. The first explores the concept of a gender game, and analyses the feminized gendering of Russia within the post-Cold War Russian press. The second examines a strategy and tactics of 'besting', traditionally used by persons or groups who occupy a subordinate position in a hierarchy and therefore 'play with a losing hand'. Assumptions about power underlying this 'Machiavella' strategy are contrasted briefly with those of Machiavelli, one of the symbols of a masculine realpolitik. The third section traces the development of Russia's post-Cold War relationship to the West in three stages: Roughly through 1993, Russia was servile to and dependent on the West; in 1994 'she' overcompensated for this weakness by becoming 'tough', which only increased her isolation; finally, after Primakov became Foreign Minister in 1996, Russia began to 'best' the West, that is, to act rather than react in an attempt to change the game so that her interests would be taken into account against the background of NATO enlargement.