Comparative Analysis of the Changes in US and Russian Foreign and Economic Policies towards Cuba from 2008-2017

This study is a comparative case study, which contrasts the foreign and economic policy changes by the US and Russia towards Cuba 2008 - 2017, as both countries changed their policies considerably in this period. This topic was chosen as there is a lack in literature of comparing foreign policy changes of the US and Russia. This paper aims to contribute to theory by constructing an alternative framework to analyse and compare policy changes, while empirically its purpose it to determine the type and sources of policy changes made. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods, while process tracing and discourse analyse are employed to analyse data. It is argued that changes made by the US constitute a goal change which was caused by inner-American affairs, while Russia conducted a program change which was influenced by external events. Hereby Russia orients itself towards the US, but the same does not apply vice-versa, which discloses their asymmetrical relationship.