Description
Book SynopsisThis anthology brings together studies of post-colonial, post-Cold War Central Eurasia. This part of the world is in transition from Soviet institutions to independent statehood, nation building, resistance against state expansion, cultural change and the release of market forces. The theoretical framework of the study is called ‘critical geo-politics.’ The objective of the work is to better comprehend the nature of the post-colonial ‘Great Game'. Part I studies US power projection activity in the region. America is extending its World War II trans-oceanic 'defense perimeter into the fossile fuel rich area between integrating Europe, recovering Russia and industrializing China. Part II details various aspects of state-nation building and soci-cultural and economic change in the region. Part III studies interactions between outsiders, neighbors and Central Asian Republics. Conflict and cooperation in the Caspian region is studied in part IV, with Aral Sea and Azerbijan as cases. This is the revised edition of the book that was published under the same title in 2004.
Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION BY THE EDITORS The Crisis in IR Theory: Towards a Critical Geopolitics Approach Part One THE POLICY OF PROJECTING POWER INTO VACUUM AREAS I The Geopolitics of Power Projection in US Foreign Policy: From Colonization to Globalization, Henk Houweling and Mehdi Parvizi Amineh II Caspian Energy: Oil and Gas Resources and the Global Market, Mehdi Parvizi Amineh and Henk Houweling Part Two LOCAL DYNAMIC III Nation-State Building in Central Asia: A Lost Case?, Pınar Akçalı IV Political Processes in Post-Soviet Central Asia, Shirin Akiner V The Economic and Social Impact of Systemic Transition in Central Asia and Azerbaijan, Michael Kaser VI Gendered Transitions: The Impact of the Post-Soviet Transition on Women in Central Asia and the Caucasus, Armine Ishkanian Part Three INTERACTIONS BETWEEN OUTSIDERS, NEIGHBORS AND CENTRAL EURASIAN REPUBLICS VII Sino-Indian Relations: Security Dilemma, Ideological Polarization, or Cooperation Based on ‘Comprehensive Security’?, Kurt Radtke VIII The US and the EU in CEA. Relations with Regional Powers, Mehdi Parvizi Amineh and Henk Houweling IX Paradigms of Iranian Policy in Central Eurasia and Beyond, Eva Rakel Part Four LOCAL CONFLICTS X Growing Tension and the Threat of War in the Southern Caspian Sea: The Unsettled Division Dispute and Regional Rivalry, Hooman Peimani XI The ‘Power of Water’ in a Divided Central Asia, Max Spoor and Anatoly Krutov XII A Transnational Policy for Conflict Reduction and Prevention in the South Caucasus, Robert M. Cutler XIII International Challenges and Domestic Preferences in the Post-Soviet Political Transition of Azerbaijan, Ayça Ergun Index
