How Britain's Fear of Russia Shaped a Century of Strategic Miscalculation and Offers Lessons for the West's Confrontation with China
A Study in Threat Inflation, Institutional Self-Interest, and the Security Dilemma from the Great Game to the New Cold War This essay examines the remarkable continuity in Anglo-Russian relations over two centuries, arguing that British policy was shaped less by actual Russian capabilities than by perceived future threats to imperial interests. From the Great Game through the Crimean War to contemporary confrontations, a persistent pattern emerges: an established maritime power consistently exaggerated the danger posed by a continental rival, often creating the very hostility it sought to prevent. The analysis extends to the present, exploring how similar dynamics now shape Western approaches to China and Russia, with particular attention to institutional interests, the political economy of threat perception, and the unintended consequences of containment policies that have driven two historically suspicious powers into closer cooperation. The Architecture of An...