CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Stoyanov, Stefan |
|---|---|
| Title | When Oil Destroys Empathy: How the West Misread Russia in the Course of the Russo-Ukrainian War? |
| Summary | This paper explores how Western misperceptions about Russia's intentions contributed to the failure to anticipate Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The thesis argues that this misreading stems from a lack of strategic empathy, or an inability to understand the specific internal drivers of the Kremlin's behavior, particularly its nature as a petrostate. Using Zachary Shore’s theory of strategic empathy and Alexander Etkind’s concept of Russian paleomodernity as a framework, the study reveals how the West underestimated the influence of Russia's fossil fuel dependency on its domestic and foreign policies. Through examinations of the post-Cold War liberal international order, the evolution of Western-Russian relations, and Russia’s neomercantilist exploitation of energy policy, the thesis demonstrates that Moscow’s aggressive actions were logical extensions of long-standing patterns, not an unexpected deviation. The research concludes that Western optimism, rooted the idea of liberal universalism, blinded policymakers to the warning signs ingrained in Russia’s petro-authoritarian trajectory. Understanding this dynamic is critical to reassessing past policy failures and shaping future responses to petrostate aggression in an era defined by climate crisis and systematic disorder. |
| Supervisor | Etkind, Alexander |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/stoyanov_stefan.pdf |
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