- Since 2000 under former President Putin Russia has returned as a great power. Drawing upon the immense new wealth generated by oil and gas exports, as well as upon his ability to recentralize political power in Russia, Putin explicitly committed his government to re-establishing Russia's role as a great power - beginning in former Soviet space. Moscow has made clear that it will no longer accept what it views as Western encroachment into areas viewed as central to Russia's security interests. The growing friction in relations with the United States and the divisions within the European Union concerning the appropriate approach to take toward Russia have been greatly increased by the Russian invasion and occupation of much of the territory of Georgia. Table of Contents Preface Contributors Introduction: A Resurgent Russia and the West, Roger E. Kanet Part I: Russia as a Re-emerging Great Power 1. Russia's Sovereign Democracy: Instrumentalization, Interests and Identity, Graeme P. Herd 2. Russia's Power and Competitiveness in the Past and the Present, Vladimir Rukavishnikov Part II: Russia and the European Union 3. The Russian Perception of Europe and Its Implications for Russia-EU Relations, Nikita Lomagin 4. The EU and Russia: Forging a Strategic Partnership?, Maria Raquel Freire 5. The Impact of EU Enlargement on the EU-Russian Relationship, Joan DeBardeleben 6. Normative and Ideological Frictions between Russia and Europe: Issues of Security, Economic Integration, Democracy and Human Rights, Bertil Nygren Part III. Russia and the Transatlantic Security Community 7. Russia and the European Union: The U.S. Impact on the Relationship, Roger E. Kanet 8. Russia, NATO Enlargement and the new 'Lands in Between', John Berryman 9. NATO, the United States, and Central Asia