Regional Cooperation in the South Caucasus

Regional Cooperation in the South Caucasus
Author: Tracey German
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2016-04-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317069129

The South Caucasus region, comprising the former Soviet states of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia occupies a key strategic location, squeezed between the Black and Caspian Seas, Iran, Russia and Turkey. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, the region has become an arena of geopolitical confrontation with regional powers such as Russia, Turkey and Iran vying for influence in the face of growing Western involvement. The Russian military intervention in Georgia in 2008 not only raised questions about Moscow's intentions towards its 'Near Abroad' and the future direction of its foreign policy, it also demonstrated that ostensibly local separatist disputes have serious ramifications for regional relations and the wider international community. In this book, German explores the extent of regional cooperation in the South Caucasus, analyses the reasons for the relative lack of regional cooperation and assesses the potential for deeper cooperation in the future.

The New Geopolitics of the South Caucasus

The New Geopolitics of the South Caucasus
Author: Shireen T. Hunter
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2017-09-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1498564976

This collection surveys the three South Caucasian states’ economic, social and political evolution since their independence in 1991. It assesses their successes and failures in these areas, including their attempts to build new national identities and value systems to replace Soviet-era structures. It explains the interplay of domestic and international factors that have affected their performance and influenced the balance of their successes and shortcomings. It focuses on the policies pursued by key regional and international actors towards the region and assesses the effects of regional and international rivalries on these states’ development, as well as on the prospects for regional cooperation and conflict resolution. Finally, it analyzes a number regional and international developments which could affect the future trajectory of these states’ evolution.

Non-traditional Security Threats and Regional Cooperation in the Southern Caucasus

Non-traditional Security Threats and Regional Cooperation in the Southern Caucasus
Author: Mustafa Aydın
Publisher: IOS Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2011
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1607506831

This book contains 16 papers, presented at the workshop: Non-Traditional Security Threats and Regional Cooperation in the Southern Caucasus, which was held in Istanbul, Turkey in October 2009. Whilst the Cold War did not exclude the existence of other threats, such as environmental hazards, organized crime, terrorism, economic instability and illegal immigration, it is only since the emphasis on East-West rivalry and the specter of nuclear confrontation between the two blocs have diminished that these have become articulated as major sources of concern for global security.

Networked Regionalism as Conflict Management

Networked Regionalism as Conflict Management
Author: Anna Ohanyan
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2015-04-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0804794944

Most regions of the world are plagued by conflicts that are made insoluble by a confluence of complex threads from history, geography, politics, and culture. These "frozen conflicts" defy conflict management interventions by both internal and external agents and institutions. Worse, they constantly threaten to extend beyond their local geographies, as in the terrorist bombings in Boston by ethnic Chechens, or to escalate from skirmishes to full-scale war, as in Nagorno-Karabakh. Consequently, such conflicts cry out for alternative approaches to the classic, state-focused, and sovereignty-based conflict management models that are practiced in traditional diplomacy—which most often produce rather short-term, ad hoc, fragmented interventions and outcomes. Drawing upon the cases of the South Caucasus, the Western Balkans, Central America, South East Asia, and Northern Ireland, Networked Regionalism as Conflict Management offers a theoretical and practical solution to this impasse by arguing for regional collective interventions that involve a long-term reengineering of existing conflict management infrastructure on the ground. Such approaches have been attracting the attention of scholars and practitioners alike yet, thus far, these concepts have rarely involved more than simple prescriptions for regional cooperation between grassroots actors and traditional diplomacy. Specifically, says Anna Ohanyan, only the cultivation and establishment of regional peace systems can provide an effective path toward conflict management in these standoffs in such intractably divided regions.

The South Caucasus - Security, Energy and Europeanization

The South Caucasus - Security, Energy and Europeanization
Author: Meliha B. Altunışık
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2017-10-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 131751114X

This book explores developments in the countries of the South Caucasus – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia – since the EU included the region in the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2003. It considers issues related to energy, ethnic conflict, steps towards regional integration, and, above all, security – including the involvement of Russia, Iran, Turkey and the United States. It assesses the key importance of energy, argues that the prospects for regional integration are weak, and contends that while the approach of Europe and the United States has been confused and weak, not holding out great hope of EU or NATO membership, Russia’s interest and involvement in the region is strong, and growing.

Reassessing Security in the South Caucasus

Reassessing Security in the South Caucasus
Author: Annie Jafalian
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2011
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781409422747

Lying on the periphery of Europe, Russia, Turkey and Iran, the South Caucasus is receiving growing attention among decision-makers and scholars of international relations. It acts as a corridor for oil and gas imports whose stability has become part of European security itself. This volume reassesses security in the South Caucasus.

The Security of the Caspian Sea Region

The Security of the Caspian Sea Region
Author: Gennadiĭ Illarionovich Chufrin
Publisher: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780199250202

Published in association with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The Right to Self-determination in the South Caucasus

The Right to Self-determination in the South Caucasus
Author: Bahruz Balayev
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2013
Genre: History
ISBN: 073917827X

The Right to Self-Determination in the South Caucasus: Nagorno Karabakh in Context, by Bahruz Balayev, explores the relationship in international law between the concept of self-determination and territorial integrity in the context of the Caucasus region. This study brings together the various self-determination movements of the Caucasus (Nagorno Karabakh, South Ossetia, Adjara, Abkhazia, and Chechnya) and provides a comparative analysis. The August 2008 war in Georgia and the proclamation of independence of Kosovo renewed the discussion over the right to self-determination in international law: Has the right to self-determination evolved since the solutions to the conflicts over self-determination are now determined in a new manner, or should it? Will the question of self-determination in different regions of the world be a spark for a new cold war? Unilateral declarations and the recognition of independence of South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Kosovo could be the first spark. These are the pressing questions because there are many self-determination and secession movements all over the world. The Right to Self-Determination in the South Caucasus is a unique tool for scholars, researchers, and the public in understanding South Caucasus regional conflicts from the New Haven School perspective.

Confrontational and Cooperative Regional Orders

Confrontational and Cooperative Regional Orders
Author: Ariel Gonzalez Levaggi
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2019-07-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0429582390

This book explains cooperative and confrontational regional orders in the post-Cold War era. Applying a push-and-pull framework to the evolution of regional orders, the book’s theoretical section compares regional dynamics and studies the transformation and authority of governing arrangements among key regional actors who manage security and institutional cooperation. This presents a novel approach to comparing non-Western regional orders, and helps forge a better integration between International Relations disciplinary approaches and area studies. The empirical section analyzes Central Eurasia and South America within the period 1989-2017, using case studies and interviews with decision-makers, practitioners and experts. The volume demonstrates that soft engagement strategies from extra-regional great powers and internationalist domestic coalitions framed in a stable democratic polity are forces for peaceful interaction, while hard engagement strategies from great external powers plus nationalist coalitions within democratic backsliding in key regional powers present negative outlooks for regional cooperation. This book will be of much interest to students of regional security, comparative politics, area studies and International Relations.