At the outset of his election as President of Ukraine in 2010, Viktor Yanukovych defined his top three foreign policy priorities as; restoring close ties with Russia, integration into the European Union/European community, and constructing solid and strategic relationships with countries such as the United States. This foreign policy stance appears to aspire to the concept of “multivectorism”, the idea that a country’s geopolitical standpoint can be favourable to all of its major partners, and no special preferences will be given to any one of them. The concept has also been used to describe the foreign policy of Russia, Kazakhstan, and more recently - Kyrgyzstan. It is far from clear, however, what is distinct about "multi-vector" maneuvering and whether or not it may represent a genuine third way between the politics of globalization and the traditional politics of alliances. Is multivectorism primarily endogenously or primarily exogenously caused? The role of major powers as external drivers of mutivectorism in foreign policy of weaker states remains underexplored. The Russian, Chinese, or American presence in international and domestic politics of former Soviet states is a key variable that influences multi-vector strategies in foreign policy development and adaptation. The paper will seek to shed some new light on such issues as the concept, the rhetoric and the actual practices of multivectorism by comparing adaptive responses to major powers'' policies in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
