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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 volume brings together analyses of key domestic, foreign and security policy issues during the Putin and Medvedev administrations. Indeed, the chapters demonstrate the extent to which domestic and foreign policy issues are inextricably linked, in particular in the domain of security, whether 'hard' or 'soft'. Internal debates regarding Russia's trajectory, including issues of national identity; economic modernisation, human rights and democracy, continue to be at the forefront of concern. Moreover, these debates are intimately connected to Russia's self-image and the image therefore, that it wishes to project in the wider world. The debates focus on Russia as 'energy superpower'; as one...
Conspiracy theories are not just outlandish ideas. They can also be political weapons. Conspiracy theories have come to play an increasingly prominent role in political systems around the world. In Revealing Schemes, Scott Radnitz moves beyond psychological explanations for why people believe conspiracy theories to explore the politics surrounding them, placing two questions at the center of his account: What leads regimes to promote conspiracy claims? And what effects do those claims have on politics and society? Focusing on the former Soviet Union--a region of the world where such theories have long thrived--he shows that incumbent politicians tend to make conspiracy claims to demonstrate ...
Bringing together leading scholars from Russia and outside experts on Russia, this book looks at the difference between the image Russia has of itself and the way it is viewed in the West. It discusses the historical, cultural and political foundations that these images are built upon, and goes on to analyse how contested these images are, and their impact on Russian identity. The book questions whether differing images explain fractiousness in Western-Russian relations in the new century, or whether distinct 'imaginary solitudes' offer a better platform from which to negotiate differences. Providing an innovative comparative study of contemporary images of the country and their impact, the book is a significant contribution to studies of globalisation and international relations.
Participation as an element of active citizenship in democracies is a key project of international and national educational policy. Institutionalized approaches for compulsory schools provide participatory access to all young European citizens. But does this picture depict the possibilities and practices of participation appropriately? Can this standard approach to participation be translated into action in view of diverse polities, policies, political cultures, institutions and practices of participation? This book explores what prerequisites must be given for a successful implementation of such a comprehensive international project.
Where Currents Meet, Tanya Zaharchenko’s path-breaking study of literature and cultural memory, moves decisively beyond the simplistic view of a post-Soviet Ukraine divided between east and west. It positions the Ukrainian and Russian components of cultural experience in the country’s east as elements of a complex continuum. Combining insights from memory studies and border studies, Zaharchenko analyzes a generation of younger riters in the city of Kharkiv—a “doubletake generation” that came of age at the time of the Soviet Union’s collapse and now revisits this experience through fiction. In the works of Serhiy Zhadan, Andreĭ Krasniashchikh, Yuri Tsaplin, Oleh Kotsarev, and others the author reveals how borderlands and frontiers, both geographical and conceptual, acquire zonal qualities of their own as these writers navigate the historical legacy they have inherited.
Energy security has emerged as one of the most important contemporary geopolitical issues. Access to reliable, cheap energy has become essential to the functioning of modern economies but the uneven distribution of energy supplies has led to perceptions of significant Western vulnerability. At the same time, many in the West have become wary of China’s re-emergence as a major power in global politics, with its impact on Western foreign policies and potential threat to Western energy security. This book offers fresh insights into the rise of China as a global superpower and the ways in which its rise is perceived to threaten Western energy security, engaging specifically with how the idea o...
Asks why regime change in Russia has not been accompanied by a coherent new political symbolism.
'Invisible Lines is a fascinating, detailed exploration of the hidden boundaries that carve up the world.' Telegraph 'A fascinating book ... a truly original adventure into new ways of exploring what we mean by a sense of place.' Simon Jenkins 'A fascinating exploration of the lesser-known and more subtle borders across the earth and the surprising ways in which they shape our lives.' i news Our world has innumerable boundaries, ranging from the obvious - like an ocean - to subtle differences in language or climate. Most of us cross invisible lines all the time, but don't stop to consider them. In Invisible Lines, geographer Maxim Samson presents 30 such unseen boundaries, intriguing and une...
“Roger Kanet, a respected expert on the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia, has assembled a stellar team of scholars, from Russia and the West, to examine Russia’s policy toward Europe. The individual chapters offer well-researched, provocative, and contrasting assessments, using theoretical frameworks ranging from realism to constructivism. Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for the rebellion in Ukraine’s east have ignited a heated debate over the motivations and objectives shaping Russian policy in Europe. That makes this superb volume particularly timely.” –Rajan Menon, Anne and Bernard Spitzer Chair in Political Science, The City College of New York, USA This edited c...