Political Geography: Azerbaijan / Journal: Uluslararasi Iliskiler

Author:: S. Neil MacFarlane and George Khelashvili
Publication Date:: 08-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: This article examines the evolution of American policy in the Southern Caucasus since 1991. It begins with a discussion of the principal drivers of that policy. A discussion of the evolution of the policy since the end of the Cold War follows. The article argues that US policy in the region has been ad hoc and inconsistent, reflecting ideological considerations (democracy promotion in Georgia), economic interests (access to Caspian Basin energy product and the development of US relations with Azerbaijan), US minority lobbying (US policy towards the Karabagh conflict), and idiosyncratic leadership preference (the personal relationship between Presidents Bush and Saakashvili). This amalgam reflected the weakness of strategic drivers and notably Russia's inability to act on its hegemonic aspirations in the region. As Russian power increases, and its effort to rebuild its influence in the Southern Caucasus grows, the strategic framing of US policy may also be expected to strengthen.
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and South Caucasus

Author:: Gerard J. Libaridian
Publication Date:: 08-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: The article discusses the inter-ethnic conflicts in the South Caucasus while focusing on the policies of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and offers an illuminating account on the role of leadership in conflict resolution while taking into account domestic, regional and international settings. The author considers 1995 as the first year of stabilized region and discusses the reasons why this rare opportunity for conflict resolution in the South Caucasus offered by 1995 was not realized.
Political Geography:: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and South Caucasus

Author:: Brenda Shaffer
Publication Date:: 08-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: The article examines the development of the foreign policies and strategies of the three states of the Caucasus-Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia—in the post-Soviet period. The article claims that ideology and identity have had little impact on the alliances and foreign policy orientations adopted by the three states. Second, the three states of the Caucasus adopted fundamentally different policies toward Russia. Third, geographic factors have had significant influence on their foreign policy options. Fourth, managing the results of the secessionist conflicts has been a major goal of their foreign policy efforts and the conflicts are a useful lever of neighboring powers. Fifth, the foreign policy making capability of the three states has expanded significantly. Last, the foreign policy options of the three states have been limited by the policies of the major powers in the region.
Political Geography:: Caucasus, Soviet Union, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia

Author:: Ayça Ergun
Publication Date:: 08-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: The aim of this article is to analyze the process of post-Soviet transformation in Azerbaijan while focusing on the process of democratization, peculiarities of the leadership and political elite, success and failure in electoral politics, and development of civil society. I argue that the politics of the post-independence period was shaped by the conflicting co-existence of patterns of continuity and change which determined the path of political transformation in Azerbaijan.
Political Geography:: Soviet Union and Azerbaijan

Author:: Atay Akdevelioglu
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: While Iran did not have a clearly deliniated policy towards Central Aisa (and Azerbaijan) during the Soviet period and conducted its relations through Moscow, it tried to develop constructive engagement with the regional states since the collapse of the Soviet Union. At the same time, Iran clearly came to accept the dominant postion of Russia in the region. Although it avoided involvement in internal affairs of the regional countries, Iran's political relations with them have not develop into a satisfactory level. In this, American discouragement of the regional countries to enter close relations with Iran, their identification of political Islam as domestic threat and Iran as its external hub, as well as Iran's own economic and technological weaknesses played important roles. Despite this political weaknesses and US pressures, however, Iran, with its suitable geographic location and acceptance of trampa with the energy reach countries, has emerged as an importan regional economic partner and alternative transit route.
Topic:: Foreign Policy and Islam
Political Geography:: United States, Iran, Central Asia, Asia, and Azerbaijan

Author:: Mert Bilgin
Publication Date:: 12-2004
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: Post-Soviet countries are either passing through a transition period, or have already completed it, as an outcome of the neoliberal pressures of international actors. The attempts have focused on reconstruction of the state because of its being conceived as an impediment in front of political and economic liberalization. The states of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan resemble other transition economies in the sense that they share a similar Soviet legacy. Nevertheless, they deviate from the rest by the virtue of natural resources which endow the state the ability to re-produce itself. The state of Azerbaijan has liberated itself from the society by using the natural resource rents, which in turn outmode taxation as an instrument of revenue. Despite Kazakhstan's discernible progress in launching economic reforms, the state has politically kept its solid structure. The Kazakh state has preferred to allocate the natural gas revenues for economic transformation with no political liberalization. Under an autocratic regime, the Turkmen state has strengthened its positioning vis-à-vis the society with no economic and political transformation.
Topic:: Communism, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Soviet Union, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan

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