The Cold Peace: Russo-Western Relations as a Mimetic Cold War

In 1989–1991 the geo-ideological contestation between two blocs was swept away, together with the ideology of civil war and its concomitant Cold War played out on the larger stage. Paradoxically, while the domestic sources of Cold War confrontation have been transcended, its external manifestations remain in the form of a ‘legacy’ geopolitical contest between the dominant hegemonic power (the United States) and a number of potential rising great powers, of which Russia is one. The post-revolutionary era is thus one of a ‘cold peace’. A cold peace is a mimetic cold war. In other words, while a cold war accepts the logic of conflict in the international system and between certain protagonists in particular, a cold peace reproduces the behavioural patterns of a cold war but suppresses acceptance of the logic of behaviour. A cold peace is accompanied by a singular stress on notions of victimhood for some and undigested and bitter victory for others. The perceived victim status of one set of actors provides the seedbed for renewed conflict, while the ‘victory’ of the others cannot be consolidated in some sort of relatively unchallenged post-conflict order. The ‘universalism’ of the victors is now challenged by Russia's neo-revisionist policy, including not so much the defence of Westphalian notions of sovereignty but the espousal of an international system with room for multiple systems (the Schmittean pluriverse)

Diplomazia creativa al servizio di strategie di nicchia di una piccola potenza

In the year marking the centenary since the foundation of the Azerbaijani Diplomatic Service, Baku’s foreign policy is increasingly characterised by a broader understanding of diplomacy, shaped by the gradual yet steady expansion of both areas and the tools for intervention. Guided by the attempt to develop a ‘niche strategy’ aiming at safeguarding and promoting Azerbaijani national interest, the Humanitarian Diplomacy emerges as a privileged field for Baku to adopt a pro-active and creative foreign policy. Building upon the debate around the interests behind the aid-providing activities of traditional and emerging donors, the article aims at introducing the motivations and the aims behind Azerbaijani aid policy. In particular, it aims at demonstrating that Baku’s Humanitarian Diplomacy aims chiefly at achieving immaterial benefits, having to do with international prestige and with the construction and international projection of a Good International Citizenship

Turkey: return to stability?

Donated by Klaus KreiserReprinted from : Sylvia Kedourie (ed.). Seventy-five years of the Turkish republic

Georgia after the Rose Revolution : geopolitical predicament and implications for U.S. policy

The attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, enhanced the importance of both the Transcaucasus and Central Asia to American security. Overflight rights through the Caucasus to Central Asia and Afghanistan are vital components of the ongoing military effort there by both U.S. and NATO forces. But this region has multiple conflicts and fault-lines. As multiple recent crises show, Russo-Georgian tensions connected with South Ossetia and Abkhazia could erupt into open violence at any time. The author outlines the possibilities for conflict in this region and the qualities that make it strategically important, not only for Washington and Moscow, but also increasingly for EuropeWhat is at stake in Georgia? -- U.S. interests in the South Caucasus -- Russian policies -- Independence and the Russian "reconquista" -- The slipping of the Caucasus, 1996-99 -- Implications for the West -- ImplicationsSvante E. Cornell"February 2007."Parallel als Buch-Ausg. erschiene

The Nagorno - Karabakh conflict

Svante E. Cornel

The wider Black Sea region : an emerging hub in European security

Svante E. Cornell ...Parallel als Buch-Ausg. erschiene

Small nations and great powers : a study of ethnopolitical conflict in the caucasus/ Cornell

xv, p. 490: ill.; 21 c