The changing nature of power in Russian foreign policy. Putin's foreign policy: A continuation of the past or the beginning of a new era? ; A natureza mutável do poder na política externa russa. A política externa de Putin: uma continuação do passado ou o início de uma nova era?

Dissertação de Mestrado em Relações Internacionais - Estudos da Paz, Segurança e Desenvolvimento apresentada à Faculdade de Economia ; Soft power initially emerged in the 1990s as a liberal concept used within democratic states to achieve their goals in the international system and was first used by scholar Joseph Nye in 1980. As an alternative conceptualization to traditional hard power, soft power implies the ability of one nation to influence another through attraction and persuasion. This arises from three fundamental pillars, namely the cultural attractiveness of a state, its political ideals, and its policies, both internal and external. Over the years, both liberal and democratic states and non-democratic states have adopted this concept of power in their foreign policies, as it helps to expand and strengthen a state's foreign policy. Thus, the notion of soft power has triggered different interpretations and variations depending on who was using it, giving rise to what several scholars call a negative type of soft power, used to control and coerce rather than attract and persuade. This dissertation addresses the use of soft power in Russia's foreign policy discourses as a case study of a non-democratic state, questioning to what extent it is possible to observe a change in the type of power used in Russian foreign policy between 2000 and 2008 in relation to the former Soviet republics and, if so, what is the purpose behind this change. The concept of soft power was introduced into Russian foreign policy in Vladimir Putin's first two terms as President of the Russian Federation. It is therefore between 2000 and 2008 that the first signs of a soft power development in Russia begin to appear. Drawing on constructivist precepts and Critical Discourse Analysis, this dissertation argues that the use of soft power and discursive power (i.e. ideas, culture, language, ideology and knowledge) by President Vladimir Putin are intertwined and are used for the purpose of manipulation and coercion, resorting to the use ...