Reassessing Security In The South Caucasus

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.

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.

The Caucasus, including the South Caucasus states and Russia’s North Caucasus, continues to be an area of instability and conflict. This book, based on extensive original research, explores in detail at both the local and regional level the interaction between state and society and the impact of external actors' engagement in the region within a conceptual framework linking security and democracy. Unlike other books on the subject, which tend to examine the issues from a Western political science perspective, this book incorporates insights from sociology, geography and anthropology as well as politics and contains contributions from scholars who have carried out extensive research in the region within a European Commission-funded Seventh Framework Programme project.

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.

This book provides a multi-level analysis of international security in the South Caucasus. Using an expanded and adapted version of Regional Security Complex Theory, it studies both material conditions and discourses of insecurity in its assessment of the region's possible transition towards a more peaceable future.

The South Caucasus region, which is occupied by the Caucasus states of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia, has historically been central to many significant national, regional, and international security issues, primarily due to its sensitive geopolitical position at the crossroads of regional and global powers. Few other regions in the world straddle as central a geographic position relative to major international security issues.

This book aims to highlight the efforts by the international community to facilitate solutions to the conflicts in the South Caucasus, and focuses particularly on the existing challenges to these efforts. The South Caucasus region has long been roiled by the lingering ethno-national conflicts—Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Abkhazia and South Ossetia conflicts within Georgia—that continue to disrupt security and stability in the entire region. Throughout different phases of the conflicts the international community has shown varying degrees of activism in conflict resolution. For clarity purposes, it should be emphasized that the notion of “international community” will be confined to the relevant organizations that have palpable share in the process—the UN, the OSCE, and the EU—and the states that have the biggest impact on conflict resolution and the leverage on the conflicting parties—Russia, Turkey, and the United States.

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.