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.
Author(s): Emil Avdaliani
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 241
City: Cham
Preface
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Shifting Global Balance of Power and the South Caucasus
The Nature of Liberal Crisis
Emergence of Eurasia as a Rival Bloc—Shifting Balance of Power
Chinese Vision
Other Eurasian Powers
The Future World Order—Different Pathways
China’s Vision of Future World Order
Final Thoughts
References
3 Multipolar World and the Return of Great Power Competition to the South Caucasus
References
4 Turkey’s Evolving Approach to the Black Sea and the South Caucasus Region
Ukraine—Rupture Point for Turkey’s Black Sea Vision
Turkey’s Ukraine Policy
Turkey’s Growing Assertiveness in the South Caucasus
Assertive Turkey and the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
Turkey’s Assertiveness and Eurasianism
Final Thoughts
References
5 Iran’s Changing Strategic Position in the South Caucasus
Iran and Connectivity in the South Caucasus
Iran and Changing Balance of Power Around Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
Relations with Russia
Final Thoughts
References
6 From Central Asia to the Black Sea: China and the South Caucasus
Important Geographic Bridge
The South Caucasus Countries and the BRI
Hopes for a New Regional Player Dashed
China and Foreign Actors in South Caucasus
From Central Asia to the Black Sea—A Caucas-Asian Perspective
Final Thoughts
References
7 Russia’s “Return” to the South Caucasus
Geography Informs Russia’s Grand Strategy in the South Caucasus
Russia and the South Caucasus—Eurasian Outlook and Order-Building
Russia’s Order-Building in the South Caucasus
Decline of Russia’s Prestige
The Crisis of “Separatist Empire”
The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh
Final Thoughts
References
8 Conclusion: The Future of the South Caucasus
References
Index
