Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2021)

Between Balance of Power and Balance of Resolve: Why Russia Used Fait Accompli in Crimea But Frozen Conflict in South Ossetia?

Authors
Jialin Li
Corresponding Author
Jialin Li
Available Online 20 May 2021.
DOI
10.2991/assehr.k.210519.232How to use a DOI?
Keywords
fait accompli, frozen conflict, balance of power, balance of resolve
Abstract

In the past few decades, Russia and the U.S. have conflicts of interest, especially in Russia’s neighbors. For example, in 2008, Russia adopted a frozen conflict tactic in South Ossetia, while in 2014, Russia adopted a fait accompli tactic in Crimea. Then why Russia employed different strategies respectively? The paper argues the difference based on the different local balance of power and the balance of resolve. If Russia both has a stronger local balance of power and balance of resolve vis-a-vis its target, for example, in Crimea, then it is willing to use fait accompli. However, whenever either its local balance of power or balance of resolve or both, is weaker, frozen conflict is more likely to be used. This is the case of South Ossetia. More specifically, Russia has a military base in Crimea, which gives it a local military advantage and has a strong resolution to control Crimea. Although Ukraine has the U.S. as the protector, U.S. is geographically far away. Therefore the U.S. is less determined to be involved and cause escalation. By contrast, Georgia regards South Ossetia as an inalienable territory, while Russia originally had no troops there. Therefore, Russia’s local balance of power and balance of resolve are both weaker than the Crimea case. As a result, it preferred frozen conflict.

Copyright
© 2021, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Download article (PDF)

Volume Title
Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2021)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
20 May 2021
ISBN
978-94-6239-381-3
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/assehr.k.210519.232How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2021, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

TY  - CONF
AU  - Jialin Li
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/05/20
TI  - Between Balance of Power and Balance of Resolve: Why Russia Used Fait Accompli in Crimea But Frozen Conflict in South Ossetia?
BT  - Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1164
EP  - 1169
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.210519.232
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.210519.232
ID  - Li2021
ER  -