Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija

Jair Messias Bolsonaro was the president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023, and he is regarded as one of the most pro-American presidents in Brazilian history. Due to similar political rhetoric, J. Bolsonaro was often compared to Donald John Trump. During his administration, Brazilian foreign policy was orientated towards improving bilateral relations with the USA. In this article, I used neoclassical realism theory to examine the dynamics of Brazil-USA relations during J. Bolsonaro’s presidency and how his ideological proximity to D. Trump affected relations between these two states. I also took into consideration the systemic factor that the USA is the strongest state in the American continents, and from this, I constructed the argument that the USA’s superiority in power against all countries in the Western Hemisphere forced J. Bolsonaro to maintain dialogue even with ideology different Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. administration (2021-2025).

The aim of this article is to evaluate the tenure of Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, through the lens of successes and failures on the international stage with selected countries. From a research perspective, Landsbergis’s term at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be analyzed in the context of continuity and change within Lithuanian foreign policy, framed by the neo-idealism approach. This analysis revealed that despite the lack of strategic guidelines for Lithuania’s foreign policy, it was perceived by external stakeholders as relatively predictable and values-driven, particularly with regard to specific actions taken by the Lithuanian government towards China, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Taiwan.

The article analyzes how Germany, particularly through the Ukrainian crisis that began in 2014, has been placed at the decision-making center of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), thus becoming the de facto chief architect after Poland of the EU’s response to Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. The article highlights the internal and external implications of this role, including in other policy areas in particular with regard to the Baltic States. To do so, we must first take a closer look at the principles of German foreign policy and the specific nature of German-Russian relations.

The aim of the scientific article is to reveal motives and features of using private military companies in Russian Federation foreign and security policy in 2014-2019. In order to do so, qualitative research method is applied, using case analysis method. From the analysis of the motives for the use of private military companies and conventional forces, it can be said that they are similar, as the use of both military structures allows to achieve more or less the same interests. However, it was observed that in terms of the specifics of the forces and the diversity scheme of social deviations, private military and security companies are more similar to regular forces. Nevertheless, both types of private companies help Russia avoid direct liability for various violations of the law. Considering the case of Russia analyzed in the study, the factors explained in the microtheory are adjusted, supplemented and interrelated. The analysis found that not all regions that are far from Russia are financially beneficial, but strategically, all give Russia an advantage over the United States.