Neil MacFarlane is Lester B. Pearson Professor of International Relations at Oxford University. Previously he worked at Queen’s University (Canada), and at the University of Virginia. He has a longstanding interest in Russian foreign and security policy. He has also published on the concept of human security and on Caucasian affairs. More recently he has focused on Russia and its regional neighbourhood in the broader context of evolving understanding of the significance of regional orders in international relations.