Currently the Caspian is simple described as the world's biggest enclosed body of salt water. The five littoral states of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran, have not come to an agreement in regards to the legal status of the Caspian, which means it is not considered to be a lake or a sea. This incident can be explained by the legal consequences of claiming the Caspian as an International Lake or Sea. As one could assume, this two statuses greatly differ in regards to their legal structures. It is of the utmost importance to not that the various national interests of the littoral states prevent them from reaching a concrete compromise on this issue. Yet a third legal definition with the potential of ending the dispute over the Caspian has for many years overlooked. The name of this official status if called the Condominium and it supports the common usage of the Caspian Sea by all littoral states. Unfortunately no littoral state has shown any sympathy for this proposal. Perhaps then it is clear that none of these legal regimes are capable of producing an adequate solution to this conflict unless the problem is observed from unconventional means.

Thesis (M. of Strategic Studies)--U.S. Army War College, 2007. / "USAWC program research paper." "DDE research project"--P. [iii]. Title from PDF title screen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 21-26). Also available online via the STINET website (http://stinet.dtic.mil/).

No description available.

This thesis analyzes the political economy of oil in the post-Soviet Kazakhstan. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan, which is one of the newly independent states of the former Soviet geography, became very popular in the international arena with its hydrocarbon riches. There have been discussions in the scholarly and international political agendas that the country will suffer from the so called &ldquo / curse&rdquo / that is associated with the producing states. This dissertation looks at the political, economic and social dynamics associated with the post-Soviet environment in Kazakhstan and the impact of oil revenues on each one of those domains. It discusses Kazakhstan&rsquo / s political economy by engaging three relevant literatures on the issue. To this end first it is argued that the rentier state model which has been developed based on the experiences of other oil producing states is useful to understand the political economy of post-Soviet Kazakhstan, however it fails to explain its dynamics fully. Therefore, the dissertation engages with post-Soviet transformation as well as critical geopolitics literatures to overcome some of the gaps in the rentier state model. It has been argued that while analyzing the political economy of oil in Kazakhstan it is possible to identify three major trends with regard to the impact of oil revenues on the post-Soviet environment. The first one of those post Soviet trends is the consolidation of pre-existing institutions and structures. Second one is the restructuring of pre-existing institutions and third one is the creation of new institutions that was not present during the Soviet environment.

本文旨在透過地緣政治途徑研究□海地區因石油資源豐富而興起的爭霸戰，以瞭解□海沿岸五國（俄羅斯、伊朗、哈薩克斯坦、土庫曼斯坦、阿塞拜然）與其他非□海沿岸國家為取得資源而有的開發、運輸、國際秩序等問題。本論文將探討1992至2000年間，□海地區的石油資源爭霸戰。 本論文認為：蘇聯解體後，□海地區成為國際政治互動的熱點；□海地區豐富的石油資源不僅極具經濟價值，□海地區的地緣地位更具戰略價值；因此，□海地區的石油爭霸戰之所以越演越烈、越形複雜，乃是因為它牽動了該地區的國際政治勢力消長問題：從而可以斷言，□海地區石油爭霸戰的動因乃是該地區的地緣戰略利益以及石油資源經濟利益，而其爭執的主要關鍵問題在於□海的歸屬權以及運輸油管的建造。此一假設命題可再引伸為下列邏輯相關子命題： （一）蘇聯解體後，□海地區成為國際政治互動熱點。 （二）□海地區豐富的石油資源不僅極具經濟價值，□海地區的地緣地位更具戰略價值；因此，□海地區的石油爭霸戰牽動了該地區的國際政治勢力消長問題，而使該地區的情勢更形複雜。 （三）□海地區的石油爭霸戰的動因乃是該地區的地緣戰略利益以及石油資源經濟利益，因而牽動的不僅是□海地區的國家，連若干非□海地區的強權或組織－美國、中國、北約也涉入其中。 （四）各國在□海地區爭執的關鍵問題有二：一為□海的歸屬權爭議；另一則為油管管線運輸問題。 上述四命題構成本文核心論點；而對應此四個論點，本論文將分六章探討。第一章為緒論，說明研究動機與目的、假設命題與研究架構、文獻述評與研究途徑。第二章：□海地區霸權爭霸戰。本章將探討俄國、美國、伊朗、土耳其、中國等在此區相互爭戰的情形。第三章：□海的歸屬權爭議。此章將探討目前□海歸屬權的爭議。第四章：油管管線運輸問題。本章將介紹目前現有的油管以及籌畫中的油管路線。第五章：結論。總結整個論文之重點及研究之結果。 / The purpose of this research project has been to study with the use of geopolitics way to understand the dispute of oil of development, carriage and international order problems in the Caspian Sea Region（including Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan）. The proposition of this thesis is that after the decomposition of Soviet Union, the Caspian becomes international political focus. The rich oil reserves is not only involving economical interest, the geopolitical location of the Caspian Sea Region is but also engaging these states in strategical advantage. Accordingly, the dispute of oil in the Caspian Sea Region is getting more and more serious because of the changing of international politics force. And the major problems are the right of the Caspian Sea and the oil pipelines of construction. The proposition comprises the contention of this paper, and it will be discussed in six chapters. The first chapter is exordium. The second chapter is the haggle in the Caspian Sea Region. The third chapter is the dispute of the right of the Caspian Sea. The fourth chapter is the construction of the oil pipelines. And the last chapter is the conclusion.

Researchers and policy experts point to key issues and groups such as the Palestinian/Arab Israeli Conflict, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Saudi exported Wahhabism, and, in more recent times, the Iraq wars as being the source of militant Islam in this day in age. However, this perspective ignores key issues and ideals in to how this new form of Islam has emerged in recent decades. For instance, with all the conflicts that have occurred in recent decades, except for the 1979 Revolution in Iran, why have they not yielded Shari'a inspired Islamic states in Yemen, Lebanon, the Occupied Territories and Iraq? Currently the only Islamic states in the Arab world are ones that lay on the Persian Gulf that were established during their independence from colonial rule. One only has to look further east and to the north of the Middle East to see militant Islam taking hold in places like Chechnya, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Waziristan and a host of other areas which do not get the attention from many people in the West. After the demise of the Soviet Union and the years directly after, a political vacuum was formed that received almost no attention from the outside world except for states with historical and cultural similarities. Here Islam has and is being used as a military and political doctrine to accomplish goals and as an ideological base for launching new attacks against its proclaimed enemies. Indeed many of the key theologians and figures have come from the Arab world, but the rise of militant Islam could not have formed with this alone. Many of the fighters on the ground in alQaeda and its direct affiliated groups are indeed not Arabs but come from a wide range of different ethnic groups such as Afghans, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Uyghurs and Pakistanis who have answered bin Laden's call of lesser jihad against the West. Rather than examining militant Islam through a Middle Eastern perspective, this author wishes to give an alternate view that the current rise of militant Islam in the world is directly associated with the internal political situation of the Greater Caspian Sea Basin and not the Middle East as so many people have proposed in the past. To examine this idea, this author will look extensively at the internal conditions of states that have allowed militant Islam to arise and mature in such a short time span in this often forgotten region. The primary purpose of the proposed paper is to examine the rise of militant Islam through a Caspian Sea region lens rather than a Middle Eastern one. This study will also examine violent groups in various states to understand how groups are able to form and how they differ from each other. Countries ranging from as far as Turkey to the Xinxiang Province in China and from the southern reaches of the Russian Federation to Pakistan will be the primary focus.

No description available.

As global energy demand increases in the next century increased demand will focus global attention on geographical energy rich concentrated areas. One such area of interest is Central Asia and the primary vehicle for energy extraction in the region, the Caspian Sea. The long history of oil development is being reignited as global powers increase their interests with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the creation of three new littorals around the body of water. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan create new opportunities for interested parties such as the United States, China and the European Union. The new littorals challenge the pre-existing legal status quo of Iran and Russia but no energy extraction can continue on large-scales without legal consensus and efficient modes of transportation. The aim of this study is to explain why energy production stagnation has existed in the region and prove that the most efficient and beneficial position local states, global powers, and corporations can strive towards is by adopting cooperative policy structures on all levels. The results of the study find that cooperative structures are mandatory due to the unique legal and transportation issues of the region refuting the applicability of Realism and other non-cooperative analysis models.

By studying zones of conflict in the Caspian Sea Basin and examining past and current policies in the region, we can incorporate the successes and failures into other conflicts around the world. This research will add to the discipline of International Relations a new synthesis of different types of conflict for similarly finite resources. It is vital to the study of international politics to study this region and these unique arenas of conflict. Most of the conflicts have ties to ethnic strife. By focusing on both conflict settlement and conflict resolution, an attainable solution may be found to the problems of Central Asia and applied elsewhere in the world.

This thesis analyzes Russian foreign policy towards Azerbaijan in the post-Soviet era. The dissolution of the Soviet Union paved the way for the independence of Azerbaijan. This development necessitated the redefinition of the relationship between Russia and Azerbaijan. However, post-Soviet Russia was reluctant to treat Azerbaijan as a fully independent state that could develop its relations other states freely. In this way, Moscow sought to keep Azerbaijan under its own sphere of influence. To this purpose, Russia used its influence in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the development of the Caspian Sea energy resources as its two main policy instruments for controlling Azerbaijan. When Vladimir Putin was elected as the President of Russia in 2000, it was not clear whether the previous Russian foreign policy towards Azerbaijan would continue as in the past or change. The developments between 2000 and 2005 show that Vladimir Putin changed the previous Russian stance on the Caspian Sea energy resources and took more collaborative posture towards Azerbaijan. However, Putin continued the earlier Russian position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This study argues that there has been both change and continuity in Russian foreign policy towards Azerbaijan since Vladimir Putin&rsquo / s rise to Russia&rsquo / s presidency in 2000. In this sense, Russian foreign policy under Putin could be conceptualized mainly as a pragmatic foreign policy. This conceptualization makes it possible to identify both change and continuity in Russian foreign policy towards Azerbaijan.