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Being located between the Black and Caspian seas, Azerbaijan has always been the juncture of Eurasia—with a traditional reputation as a crossroads between the north-south and east-west transport corridors—and the traditional ground for competition between numerous regional and global players, using both soft and hard power. With its vast hydrocarbon energy reserves, Azerbaijan is a country of particular importance in the South Caucasus. The region’s complex geopolitics have immensely influenced Azerbaijan’s foreign policy strategy. With the dissolution of the USSR, Azerbaijan, as a new state with fragile security, found itself in a complicated situation surrounded by regional powers like Iran, Russia, and Turkey. The book is built around several major foreign policy issues faced by the Republic of Azerbaijan since it regained its independence in 1991. These major issues include the conflict with Armenia and related matters, the relationship with the West, as well as the complexities arising from its relationship with Russia and its ties to Muslim countries, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia.
This book focuses on the geo-economic and geopolitical impact of value chains transformation on the transport-logistic reintegration of continental Eurasian countries, with a specific focus on the members of the Eurasian Economic Union. The author assesses the potential impact of current trends (global value chains fragmentation and decoupling) on Eurasian transport integration. The book combines in-depth analysis of the evolution of value chains and transport-logistics corridors across Eurasia with a geopolitical assessment of its implications for the EAEU’s members’ foreign and economic policy orientation. The author explores three key arguments: (1) the key to a successful and sustainable integration of the transport space of continental Eurasia is less the ongoing expansion of transcontinental transit, and more the participation in intraregional and transregional cross-border value chains, even though this process is increasingly tied to the question of the geopolitical and geo-economic orientation of continental Eurasia; (2) even in a more regionalised world economy, the economic complementarities between continental Eurasia and the two manufacturing blocks at the edges of the supercontinent, Europe and Asia, represent the greatest chance for continental Eurasia for larger participation in high value-added value chains; and (3) without diversifying trade and financial ties across Asia and normalising relations with the EU, the combined effect of shifting value chains location across the continent and China’s ambiguous and flexible transport politics might turn an unprecedented chance into risk, augmenting competition among and within countries which are members of the EAEU over traffic volume, FDI, value chain participation, and ultimately geopolitical and geo-economic dividends. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of IR Theory, IPE, Geopolitics and Regional Studies, as well as the related subfields of transport geography, economic geography, and logistics.
Jacopo Maria Pepe examines the rapid development of non-energy transport infrastructure in the broader Eurasian space. By doing so, the author considers the ongoing structural transformation of the Eurasian continent against the backdrop of deepening commercial interconnectivity in Eurasia into broader areas of trade, supported by the rapid development of rail connectivity. He frames this process in a long-wave historical analysis and considers in detail the geopolitical, geo-economic, and theoretical implications of deepening physical connectivity for the relationships among China, Russia, Central Asia, and the European Union.
During the first half of the twentieth century, the international system was largely dominated by the USA and the colonial powers of western Europe. After the two world wars, the political and economic dominance of these states guaranteed them and their allies an almost complete control of world politics. However, as it is the norm in the international system, power structures are not immutable. After the end of the Cold War, rapid changes to the existing international hierarchies took place, as new countries from the so-called ‘‘developing world’’ began to emerge as crucial actors capable of questioning and altering the power dynamics of the world. It is therefore unthinkable to ignore emerging countries such as Russia, the People’s Republic of China, India, Brazil or South Africa in the decision-making process in today’s world order. In addition, there is a group of smaller, yet increasingly important countries that, while acknowledging their inability radically to change the rules of the international system, are still eager to shift power relations and enhance their influence in the world. Argentina, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Vietnam are generally recognised as part of this grouping of emerging powers from the Global South. While there is a consensus amongst academics that emerging powers from the Global South must have a stabilising role within their own regions, previous analyses have focused primarily on the impact that emerging powers have had in their own regions’ conflict resolution initiatives. This volume, instead, aims to go beyond these analyses and provide new insights regarding the effect that this stabilising role has on the continental and global positioning of emerging powers. In other words, this book explores the relation between a country’s involvement in conflict resolution initiatives and its positioning in the international system. The volume will contribute to this approach using the perspective of academics and practitioners from countries of the Global South, particularly from states that have strengthened - or sometimes weakened - their position in the international hierarchy of power through a leading role in regional conflict resolution initiatives.
After centuries of neglect, the land transport corridors connecting Asia and Europe are on the brink of a rebirth. From practically nothing, a revived network of these land corridors is likely to lead to a considerable share of the freight revenues being generated by the increased trade between Asia and Europe. That is why there is fierce competition among the major players for control in shaping the Asia-Europe railway transport corridors. However, there are also new and exciting possibilities for cooperation among the various players. We will extensively examine and evaluate the transport corridors linking Asia and Europe. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project will be assessed from the perspectives of the three countries involved: Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. It has been shown that the railroad will economically strengthen the region and better integrate the three host countries into international transport corridors. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad will certainly play a key role in helping to revive the Silk Road connection, thereby creating common interests and facilitating the transformation of the region. The BTK transport corridor will not only stimulate the economies of the countries involved but help wean them their off oil-dependence and restore their rightful place as major commercial hubs along the once-legendary Silk Road. The attraction of direct foreign investment and establishment of partnerships between the public and private sectors are key issues that will be explored in-depth in this book. By 2025, the region is expected to become a prosperous financial sector and transit area; a comprehensive strategy to that end which incorporates the principles of sustainable growth is being formulated by the countries involved.
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.
Economic diversification remains at the top of the agenda for hundreds of regions around the world. From the single commodity economies of African countries and the Caribbean, to the many single industry regions of Europe and North America, as well as the oil and gas rich but volatile hydrocarbon economies. Economic diversification policies have been around for almost a century with varying degrees of success and failure. Economic Diversification Policies in Natural Resource Rich Economies takes a special interest in the policy experiences of a set of different countries that have extractive industries representing significant drivers of their economies and subsequently are significant contributors to government revenues. It explores twelve cases including upper-middle to high income economies such as Canada, Australia, Iceland and Norway, emerging economies such as Latin America, the GCC (Saudi and UAE), Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Russia, as well as the developing economy of Uganda. Each chapter provides a review of economic diversification experiences including policy environment, diversification strategies, desired outcomes, the role of government, and a critical evaluation of achievements. This book is suitable for those who study environmental economics, development economics and resource management.
Countries situated mainly between China and the European Union are currently participating in a race to develop their transport, trade and logistics infrastructure to attract at least one of the threads of Silk Road that will carry goods and people across Eurasia. It is believed that development of the Europe-South Caucasus-Asia transport, trade and logistics infrastructure will reduce the cost of production and services, which are important to raise competitiveness and social well-being. Although the Europe-South Caucasus-Asia transport route is a shortcut way between the two continents, the soft and hard infrastructure along this way is not enough developed to meet the emerging demand for goods and passenger turnover. Huge investments required for the development of these routes could be invested by development banks (WB, EBRD, EIB, ADB, AIIB, IDB, BSTDB, ECO bank, and so on), governments and private sector. Different types of infrastructure financing models, including public private partnerships, for the upgrading of relevant infrastructure are options on the table to discuss further. Moreover, harmonization of standards, reducing procedures, electronisation of facilities and co-ordination of activities require a new approach and many adaptations. The Europe-South Caucasus-Asia transport, trade and logistics nexus and the International North-South Transport Corridor are not only economic projects, but also carry political elements, which are backed by certain political agendas. However, it is clear that any type of old Silk Road revival initiative will drive many countries to develop their infrastructure as well as superstructure and coordinate this with other participating countries, which as a result will be beneficial for all of them. It is also believed that every single country may benefit and generate revenues from old Silk Road revival process in case of possible collabouration with its neighbouring countries. Azerbaijan enjoys an advantageous geographical position at a crossroads of East-West and North-South corridors, which leads the country to become a regional transport, production, and trade and logistics hub. The country makes huge investments into its own infrastructure as well as supports certain other neighbouring countries. Within this framework, common will based on the reciprocity and mutual benefit can foster enhanced cooperation along with the Great Silk Road and International North- South Transportation Corridor projects.
When most of Eastern Europe was struggling with dictatorships of one kind or another, the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921) established a constitution, a parliamentary system with national elections, an active opposition, and a free press. Like the Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1918, its successors emerged after 1991 from a bankrupt empire, and faced, yet again, the task of establishing a new economic, political and social system from scratch. In both 1918 and 1991, Georgia was confronted with a hostile Russia and followed a pro-Western and pro-democratic course. The top regional experts in this book explore the domestic and external parallels between the Georgian post-colonial governments of the early twentieth and twenty-first centuries. How did the inexperienced Georgian leaders in both eras deal with the challenge of secessionism, what were their state building strategies, and what did democracy mean to them? What did their electoral systems look like, why were their economic strategies so different, and how did they negotiate with the international community neighbouring threats. These are the central challenges of transitional governments around the world today. Georgia’s experience over one hundred years suggests that both history and contemporary political analysis offer the best (and most interesting) explanation of the often ambivalent outcomes.