Mikhail Polianskii
Biographic Data
| ID | 5793457 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mikhail Polianskii |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mikhail |
| FAMILY NAME | Polianskii |
| SIGNATURE | POLIANSKII M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Peace Research Institute Frankfurt |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1940-8877 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 8 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
From Prague Spring to Ukraine War
Why do Russian foreign intelligence services repeatedly fall short of delivering the political and strategic outcomes expected by the Kremlin, a pattern made most visible in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine? This article argues that these shortcomings stem not from episodic misjudgments but from enduring operational and structural constraints that have shaped Soviet and Russian intelligence practice over several decades. Through a comparative analysi…
European security
Ruxit Revisited
Russia's first invasion of Ukraine in 2014 marked the culmination of Russia's dissociation from the project of institutionalised pan‐European security and from the global liberal order more generally. While not denying the relevance of studying the causes of Russia's attacks on Ukraine, this study focuses on Russia's progressing dissociation from Western institutions that preceded the escalation of military tensions. Processes of dissociation—def…
Russian Foreign Policy Research and War in Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shattered numerous assumptions about the drivers of Russian foreign policy, posing a fundamental challenge to the Russia studies community. Against this backdrop, the article centers on the imperative to reflect how we think and examine Russian foreign policy amid considerable transformations in the country’s international as well as domestic realities. This contribution does so by reviewing and cr…
Inside Vladimir Putin’s Hall of Mirrors
Why did Vladimir Putin order the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, despite numerous warnings from Western countries about the consequences of such an action? This article argues that misperceptions about having the upper hand vis-à-vis Western countries, formed and proliferated among the Russian leadership, emboldened the Kremlin to launch the military invasion of Ukraine, assuming that the West would stand down in the face of the attack. Bas…
Utility-based predictions of military escalation
When Russia amassed troops in the winter of 2021-2022, many analysts deemed a large-scale invasion of Ukraine unlikely.Surveying the expert literature, we establish that these arguments largely relied on utility-based reasoning: Analysts thought an invasion was improbable, as it would foreseeably entail massive costs for Russia, its people, and its regime.We show that this regnant expert opinion had not sufficiently accounted for the Russian regi…
With friends like these
Russia’s attack on Ukraine has not only shaken the foundations of the European security order, but will also have long-term repercussions on the future of international relations. While Ukraine is enjoying universal backing from Western states, Russia has received at least rhetorical support from its “strategic partner” China. Influential voices have cited this constellation as proof of a new global confrontation between democratic and authoritar…
Russia’s Dissociation from the Paris Charter-Based Order
The Ukraine crisis of 2014 marked the culmination of Russia’s dissociation from the Paris Charter-based European order, and from the global liberal order more generally. Processes of dissociation—defined as intentional distancing from the core rules and norms of institutions—occur relatively often and may even become an increasingly dominant feature of world politics as de-globalization advances. However, this phenomenon has rarely been tackled i…
Utility-based predictions of military escalation
When Russia amassed troops in the winter of 2021-2022, many analysts deemed a large-scale invasion of Ukraine unlikely.Surveying the expert literature, we establish that these arguments largely relied on utility-based reasoning: Analysts thought an invasion was improbable, as it would foreseeably entail massive costs for Russia, its people, and its regime.We show that this regnant expert opinion had not sufficiently accounted for the Russian regi…
Russian Foreign Policy Research and War in Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shattered numerous assumptions about the drivers of Russian foreign policy, posing a fundamental challenge to the Russia studies community. Against this backdrop, the article centers on the imperative to reflect how we think and examine Russian foreign policy amid considerable transformations in the country’s international as well as domestic realities. This contribution does so by reviewing and cr…
Russia’s Dissociation from the Paris Charter-Based Order
The Ukraine crisis of 2014 marked the culmination of Russia’s dissociation from the Paris Charter-based European order, and from the global liberal order more generally. Processes of dissociation—defined as intentional distancing from the core rules and norms of institutions—occur relatively often and may even become an increasingly dominant feature of world politics as de-globalization advances. However, this phenomenon has rarely been tackled i…
With friends like these
Russia’s attack on Ukraine has not only shaken the foundations of the European security order, but will also have long-term repercussions on the future of international relations. While Ukraine is enjoying universal backing from Western states, Russia has received at least rhetorical support from its “strategic partner” China. Influential voices have cited this constellation as proof of a new global confrontation between democratic and authoritar…
Utility-based predictions of military escalation
When Russia amassed troops in the winter of 2021-2022, many analysts deemed a large-scale invasion of Ukraine unlikely.Surveying the expert literature, we establish that these arguments largely relied on utility-based reasoning: Analysts thought an invasion was improbable, as it would foreseeably entail massive costs for Russia, its people, and its regime.We show that this regnant expert opinion had not sufficiently accounted for the Russian regi…
Russian Foreign Policy Research and War in Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shattered numerous assumptions about the drivers of Russian foreign policy, posing a fundamental challenge to the Russia studies community. Against this backdrop, the article centers on the imperative to reflect how we think and examine Russian foreign policy amid considerable transformations in the country’s international as well as domestic realities. This contribution does so by reviewing and cr…
Inside Vladimir Putin’s Hall of Mirrors
Why did Vladimir Putin order the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, despite numerous warnings from Western countries about the consequences of such an action? This article argues that misperceptions about having the upper hand vis-à-vis Western countries, formed and proliferated among the Russian leadership, emboldened the Kremlin to launch the military invasion of Ukraine, assuming that the West would stand down in the face of the attack. Bas…
Ruxit Revisited
Russia's first invasion of Ukraine in 2014 marked the culmination of Russia's dissociation from the project of institutionalised pan‐European security and from the global liberal order more generally. While not denying the relevance of studying the causes of Russia's attacks on Ukraine, this study focuses on Russia's progressing dissociation from Western institutions that preceded the escalation of military tensions. Processes of dissociation—def…
From Prague Spring to Ukraine War
Why do Russian foreign intelligence services repeatedly fall short of delivering the political and strategic outcomes expected by the Kremlin, a pattern made most visible in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine? This article argues that these shortcomings stem not from episodic misjudgments but from enduring operational and structural constraints that have shaped Soviet and Russian intelligence practice over several decades. Through a comparative analysi…
European security
European and Russian Geopolitical Military Strategies (7 works) · Political science (6 works) · International Relations and Foreign Policy (5 works) · Law (4 works) · Law (3 works) · Politics (3 works) · Business (2 works) · European Union Policy and Governance (2 works) · Foreign policy (2 works) · History (2 works)