ARMS RACE – A STRATEGY THAT ALWAYS WORKS?

GALTSOVA Ksenia (Ksenia Galtsova, MA student, Charles University in Prague), ksu.alex.gal@gmail.com

The present article focuses on the current arms race between the USA and Russia with the aim to investigate if it will lead to a constant increase of the military budget and eventually to the collapse of the Russian economy. Therefore, it briefly mentions the Cold War time arms race and then draws parallels with the present situation. The Russian military budget has been rising since the 2000s; however, dramatic changes have occurred in the military sector since the Munich Speech in 2007. Hence, a correlation between international events and budget is analyzed in the article. In order to approach the research question, it is necessary to discuss two geopolitical crises that both powers are involved in - the Ukrainian crisis and the Syrian Civil War. Here it is important to highlight that Russia did not provoke either one, while the USA could be taken responsible for both.

Keywords: arms race, the Cold War, the USA, Russia, the Syrian conflict, the Ukrainian crisis, rivalry