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Buffer zones: Anachronism, power vacuum, or confidence builder?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2017

Rajan Menon  and
Jack L. Snyder
Rajan Menon*
Affiliation:
Powell School, City University of New York
Jack L. Snyder*
Affiliation:
Political Science, Columbia University
*
* Correspondence to: Rajan Menon, City College, Colin L. Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, New York, US. Author’s email: rmenon@ccny
** Correspondence to: Jack L. Snyder, Columbia University, 420 W. 118 St, New York, 10027-6902, US. Author’s email: jls6@columbia.edu
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Abstract

Amidst calls for containing an assertive Russia, politicians and pundits have been debating whether Ukraine should serve as a ‘buffer zone’ between the Russian and Western spheres of influence. These debates provide an opportunity to revisit the long and varied history of major powers’ efforts to manage buffer zones. We draw on this history to learn the conditions under which buffer zones succeed or fail to stabilise regions, how buffers are most successfully managed, and when alternative arrangements for borderlands work better.

Keywords

Buffer ZoneBorderland
Type
Articles
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 43 , Issue 5 , December 2017 , pp. 962 - 986
Copyright
© British International Studies Association 2017 

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68 This section draws on Thomas Graham, Rajan Menon, and Jack Snyder, ‘Ukraine between Russia and the West: Buffer or flashpoint’, World Policy Journal, 34:1 (April 2017), 107–18.

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