United States and Russia: from reticent cooperation to open confrontation

This paper intends to explain the relation between United States and Russia in the 21st. century, and to interpret the resulting configuration of an international system conditioned by that interaction. The formulation and implementation of Bush Doctrine, United States unipolar projection, the reemergence of Russia's capabilities, formation of new alliances and the evolution of Russian foreign policy under Putin put the two powers in collision course. As result, a conflict was generated that expressed itself in a number of important scenarios in the Middle East, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. Obama's administration foreign policy represents a process of adjustment to a new context, prioritizing a pragmatic combination of instruments of both hard power and soft power, as well as a guided multipolarism. The resulting configuration has strong features of a cold war.