Reassessing Security in the South Caucasus
Reassessing Security in the South Caucasus

Author: Annie Jafalian

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-08

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1317070712

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Lying on the periphery of Europe, Russia, Turkey and Iran, and also being of interest to the United States, the South Caucasus is receiving growing attention among decision-makers and scholars of international relations. From a European perspective, the region is now forming a neighbouring area at the border of the Black Sea, as well as a corridor of oil and gas imports whose stability has become part of European security itself. As such, this volume reassesses security in the South Caucasus. It makes it possible to update analysis on security interests, perceptions and policies at national, regional and international levels through cross-national studies. Aimed at highlighting long-term defence and security trends in the region, contributors re-examine their relevance and enduring impact. They also identify changing dynamics under recent geopolitical and political developments in and around the region such as: the enlargements of NATO, the August 2008 Russia-Georgia war, the creation of the EU Eastern Partnership or Presidential elections. One of this volume's distinct contributions is that chapters have been written by experts from inside and around the region, i.e. Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Turkey, with other important contributions provided by authors from France and Canada having extensive experience in the area. Students and scholars of post-Soviet states, Eurasian geopolitics and European Security will find this volume enlightening.

Iran's Foreign Policy in the South Caucasus
Iran's Foreign Policy in the South Caucasus

Author: Marzieh Kouhi-Esfahani

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-01-10

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 135138919X

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Iran’s role as a regional power is more significant than many in the West may realise. The country lies between Central Asia/the Caucasus and the Gulf region on the one hand, and, on the other, between the Mediterranean/Levant region and South Asia. Many of these areas are of increasing strategic importance. This book explores Iran’s role as a regional power, focusing on relations with South Caucasus countries - Azerbaijan and Armenia. It outlines the historical context, including Persia’s rule of these countries before the nineteenth century, and discusses Iran’s approach to foreign and regional policy and how both internal and international factors shape these policies. The book assesses Iran–Azerbaijan and Iran–Armenia bilateral relations to demonstrate how those policies translate in Iran's regional and bilateral relations. The book concludes by considering how Iran's relations in the region are likely to develop in the future.

'Moral Power' of the European Union in the South Caucasus
'Moral Power' of the European Union in the South Caucasus

Author: Syuzanna Vasilyan

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-06-21

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 1137601981

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This book devises a new conceptual framework of ‘moral power’ and applies it to the policy of the European Union (EU) towards the South Caucasian states of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. It covers the period starting from the 1990s to the present and analyses policy domains (democracy promotion, conflict resolution, security, energy, trade) juxtaposing the policy of EU/member states with those of the United States (US), Russia, Turkey, Iran, as well as inter-governmental and regional organizations. ‘Morality’ is unpacked as composed of seven parameters: consequentialism; coherence; consistency; normative steadiness; balance between values and interests; inclusiveness; and external legitimacy. ‘Power’ is branched into ‘potential’, ‘actual’ and ‘actualized’ types. ‘Moral power’ is consequently developed as an objective and neutral framework to capture the foreign policy of an international actor in any geographic area and policy sphere. The book will be useful for students and scholars of International Relations and EU Studies, policy-makers and practitioners.

A Century of Crisis and Conflict in the International System
A Century of Crisis and Conflict in the International System

Author: Michael Brecher

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-07-25

Total Pages: 421

ISBN-13: 3319571567

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This book is designed to present a fully developed theory of international crisis and conflict, along with substantial evidence of these two closely related phenomena. The book begins with a discussion of these topics at a theoretical level, defining and elaborating on core concepts: international crisis, interstate conflict, severity, and impact. This is followed by a discussion of the international system, along with two significant illustrations, the Berlin Blockade crisis (1948) and the India-Pakistan crisis over Kashmir (1965-66). The book then presents a unified model of crisis, focusing on the four phases of an international crisis, which incorporate the four periods of foreign policy crises for individual states. Findings from thirteen conflicts representing six regional clusters are then analyzed, concluding with a set of hypotheses and evidence on conflict onset, persistence, and resolution.

Negotiating Armenian-Azerbaijani Peace
Negotiating Armenian-Azerbaijani Peace

Author: Ohannes Geukjian

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-22

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 1317089472

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Conflict resolution, conflict management and conflict transformations are major themes in this unique book which examines, explores and analyses the mediation attempts of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Ohannes Geukjian shows the most striking characteristic of a protracted internal conflict such as this is its asymmetry and explains that, without meeting basic human needs like identity, recognition, security and participation, resolving any protracted social conflict is very difficult. The Armenian Azerbaijani case demonstrates how official diplomacy may not be able to solve protracted internal conflicts as, without addressing the real causes of the problematic relationship, attempts at peace making will always be sporadic and the space for mutual understanding and compromise shrink. Geukjian shows that conflict transformation has a particular salience in asymmetric conflicts such as this where the goal is to transform unjust relationships and where a high degree of polarisation between the disputants has taken root. Using the Nagorno-Karabakh case, this book focuses on the anatomy and causes of deadlock in negotiations and highlights the many difficulties in achieving a breakthrough.

EU Policies in the Eastern Neighbourhood
EU Policies in the Eastern Neighbourhood

Author: Elena Korosteleva

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-10-24

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 1317744209

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The EU continuously searches for more effective policy towards its eastern neighbourhood, which is reflected in the on-going adaptation of its existing approaches, discourses and policy strategies to the new challenges of its external environment. In order to understand the complexity and limitations of the EU framework under the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and the Eastern Partnership Initiative (EaP) – that is, to consider the interface between policy instruments, institutional structures, and multiple agents – one needs to adopt an original analytical perspective of practices to comprehensively assess the policies’ outcomes. This volume therefore offers an examination of social practices as implemented through the use of policy instruments and subsequently embedded into the existing/emergent social structures which shape and determine the EU-neighbours’ relations. To gauge success of the ENP in the eastern region, the manuscript pulls together a rich collection of geographical and thematic case-studies, joined by the overarching conceptual framework of practices. This study’s principal aims are to discern patterns of social practices which guide agents’ interactions in different policy areas; to explore the origin and effect of these practices (the role of dominant discourses, logistical imbalances, deliberate strategies, etc.); and to explicate the nature of the emerging social structures being established in the eastern region. This approach is distinctive from other constructivist undertakings as it allows to synergise the meanings of social actions (through the focus on agents and instruments), and their structural extensions (through the focus on emergent structures) across geo- and bio-political localities of the EU and its eastern neighbourhood. This book was published a sa special issue of East European Politics.

Power and Conflict in Russia’s Borderlands
Power and Conflict in Russia’s Borderlands

Author: Helena Rytövuori-Apunen

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2019-10-21

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 1788316932

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As Cold War battle lines are seemingly re-drawn, Russia's various 'frozen' war zones (ongoing separatist conflicts) are often cited as particularly volatile and assumed by some Western commentators and policymakers to be 'next' on Putin's 'wish list'. But, as Helena Rytövuori-Apunen demonstrates here, this is a gross (and dangerous) oversimplification that will only serve to fuel the vicious circle of reciprocal military escalation. Drawing on a range of empirical research and across separatist conflicts in Georgia (South Ossetia and Abkhazia), Moldova (Transnistria and Gagauzia) and Azerbaijan (Nagorno-Karabakh) and the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, her timely book provides a balanced assessment and critique of the assumptions and misunderstandings that inform mainstream discussions, as well as placing the conflicts in their proper and complex historical contexts. At a time when there is an increasing tendency to view Russia as the source of all instability in Eastern Europe, Power and Conflict in Russia's Borderlands is essential reading for anyone interested in the geopolitics of post-Soviet Russia, as well as policymakers and practitioners of peace/conflict resolution studies.

New World Order and Small Regions
New World Order and Small Regions

Author: Emil Avdaliani

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-08-29

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 9811940371

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The book provides a comprehensive understanding of the unfolding geopolitical changes in the South Caucasus in the age of increased great power competition across Eurasia. Recent research on the geopolitics of the South Caucasus focuses either on interstate relations among Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia or on each of regional actor’s (Russia, Turkey and Iran) ties with the region’s one or all three states. Little attempt has been made to see the region’s shifting geopolitical importance from a global perspective: growing US-China rivalry and shifting balance of power in Eurasia; recalibration of the US’ military and diplomatic vision in western Eurasia to adjust to the Chinese challenge. The book argues, from a theoretical point of view, that the increased competition in the region fits into the global pattern of unfolding great power competition, when military and economic calculations drive regional powers to increase their influence on immediate neighborhoods sidelining the collective West from the negotiating table and the emerging new security architecture.

The Sochi Predicament
The Sochi Predicament

Author: Bo Petersson

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2013-11-25

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 144385445X

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For a variety of political, climatic, ecological, security-related and other reasons, the Russian summer resort of Sochi by the Black Sea would seem a most unlikely candidate for the Olympic Winter Games. Despite this, the Games will be held there in February 2014, and the Russian leaders regard the Games as a highly prestigious project underlining Russia’s return to a status of great power in the contemporary world. This book conducts a thorough inventory of the contexts, characteristics and challenges facing the Sochi Games. It deals with the problems from Russian, Georgian, Abkhazian and Circassian perspectives and makes in-depth analyses of profound challenges related to matters such as identity, security, and ethnic relations. The book brings together an international group of eminent scholars representing different disciplinary perspectives, including political science, sports science, ethics, ethnology, and Caucasian studies.

The Routledge Handbook on the European Neighbourhood Policy
The Routledge Handbook on the European Neighbourhood Policy

Author: Tobias Schumacher

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-12-06

Total Pages: 788

ISBN-13: 1317429524

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The Routledge Handbook on the European Neighbourhood Policy provides a comprehensive overview of the EU’s most important foreign policy instrument, provided by leading experts in the field. Coherently structured and adopting a multidisciplinary approach, this handbook covers the most important themes, developments and dynamics in the EU’s neighbourhood policy framework through a series of cutting-edge contributions. With chapters from a substantial number of scholars who have been influential in shaping the study of the ENP, this handbook serves to encourage debates which will hopefully produce more conceptual as well as neighbourhood-specific perspectives leading to enriching future studies on the EU’s policies towards its neighbourhood. It will be a key reference point both for advanced-level students, scholars and professionals developing knowledge in the fields of EU/European Studies, European Foreign Policy Analysis, Area studies, EU law, and more broadly in political economy, political science, comparative politics and international relations.