Russian foreign policy in the Middle East in the Putin era: Seeking hegemony?

This dissertation is devoted to the foreign policy pursued by Russia in the Middle East in the modern period, designated as the Putin era (from 2000 to the present). The purpose of this research is to examine Russia's foreign policy behavior in the Middle East, characterized by the transition from a relatively low profile to a high profile, in order to find out whether its efforts to increase its power are aimed at pursuing regional hegemony or it has other incentives. Taking neoclassical realism as a theoretical foundation, this study includes an analysis of independent (systemic) variables and intervening (unit-level) variables to identify the causal relationship of Russia's foreign policy decisions regarding the Middle East, which allows a different perspective on Russia's foreign policy behavior in the region (dependent variable), as well as on a global scale. Using a soft positivist approach as a methodological framework, this study tests theoretical assumptions on the example of Russian foreign policy regarding the Iranian nuclear crisis and the Syrian conflict. Thus, focusing on the geographical area of the Middle East in a certain time frame (the Putin era), this dissertation provides an insight into the pattern of Russia's interaction within regional subsystem, and also reveals its place and role in the regional balance of power. The answer to the question of whether Russia seeks hegemony in the Middle East contributes to a clearer understanding of the limits of its ambitions and capabilities, both at the regional and global levels.