Balance of power, democracy and development: Armenia in the South Caucasian regional security complex

Since 1991, three regional security complexes have emerged on the Eurasian geopolitical extension if the former Soviet Union in Europe, Central Asia and the South Caucasus. The pattern of enmity/amity, well as the nature of a regional security complex (RSC), created the structural context of each of the above-mentioned complex. In addition to the crucial factor of “foreign penetration, ” the process of state building including the transition from Communism to democratic rule and free-market economy played a central role in the formation of the new Eurasian regional security complexes. This essay uses the RSC analytical framework to look closely to the interactions between the three South Caucasian republics. It sustains that the dominant patterns in South Caucasus are those of rivalry and enmity. Foreign penetration, on the other hand, is high. Relations of balance of power, hence, would characterize the South Caucasian Regional Security Complex. How in conditions of a balance-of-power situation is possible development? What are the dilemmas to confront? What role does democracy plays in maximizing development in a balance-of-power situation? These are the questions among others that this essay, focused on Armenia in the context of the South Caucasian Regional Security Complexes, addresses

Баланс сил у міжнародних відносинах: сутність та роль України

У статті розглядаються сутнісні особливості балансу сил у міжнародних відносинах, аналізується роль сучасної України у формуванні та реалізації балансу сил, а також вплив українсько-російського конфлікту на геополітичну рівновагу світу.В статье рассматриваются сущностные особенности баланса сил в международных отношениях, анализируется роль современной Украины в формировании и реализации баланса сил, а также влияние украинско-российского конфликта на геополитическое равновесие мира.The article reviews the essential features of the balance of power in international relations, analyzed the role of modern Ukraine in the formulation and implementation of the balance of power and influence Ukrainian-Russian conflict in the geopolitical balance in the world

Establishing Maritime Diplomacy in Southeast Asia: Balancing ASEAN Regional Interest in the Rise of Competing Great Power Rivalry

The resolution of the geopolitical status of China in the South China Sea becomes more urgent because the South China Sea issue is so closelylinked to the geopolitical security interests of China The longer the South China Sea issue is left unresolved the greater the geopolitical threat to China The presence and vicinity of foreign warships submarines and aircraft within the same dimensional space are potential hazards in the South China Sea can cause accidents and incidents A naval armaments program can create unwanted tension making maritime arms control and confidence-building as an important aspects of maritime diplomacy Someintriguing issues appear in this new environment such as how will Southeast Asia respond to great power rivalry inside and outside the region Will China s rise be accompanied with increasing fears of a great power s war or will ASEAN as the core regional grouping be an important catalyst in the interaction among nations Will the great powers tension be as dangerous as the Cold War or could it be worse as China is going to use its economic power as a strategic tool How will ASEAN collectively or as individual member countries in Southeast Asia respond to the great power rivalry of China US Japan India and Russia Will the arms race among states in the region endanger the balance of power in Southeast Asia region Will rivalry among great power countries in the East South China Sea destabilise the sea lanes of communication in the region which has sustained stability in the past several decade

Border politics: the geopolitical implications of opening the Turkish-Armenian border

Since the independence of Armenia in 1991, relations with its western neighbor Turkey, has been on the agenda of the country’s successive administrations. After an initial warming up of the relations, the Turkish-Armenian border was closed for traffic. The economic arguments put aside, the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border also poses political implications which could influence not only the politics of both countries but also the overall geopolitics of the South Caucasus. Thus if Armenia and Turkey normalize their relations, a shift in the balance of power in the region would occur. This paper is an attempt to raise and examine the political issues related to the Turkish-Armenian border opening and the implications that it could have on the political outlook of Armenia as well as the geopolitical realignment in the South Caucasus. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessaril

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The Geopolitical Commission: Learning the ‘Language of Power’? College of Europe Policy Brief #2/20 February 2020

The European Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen has branded itself as a ‘geopolitical Commission’. Does this imply a geopolitical turn in the external action of the European Union (EU)? > According to High Representative Josep Borrell, the EU needs to learn the ‘language of power’ so as to translate its resources into geopolitical impact. First fledgling signs of a search for more economic sovereignty, strategic autonomy, leadership and ‘weaponised’ trade have emerged already in recent years. Many of these initiatives still need to be implemented while new ones are being added. > Geopolitical EU external action implies a more integrated external action. It also means reinforcing the EU’s resilience against external pressure, while not neglecting ‘geopolitical cooperation’ in the face of geopolitical competition. The geopolitical Commission will have to find a ‘European way’ to deal with great power challenges in line with the EU’s capabilities and values

Parting the bamboo curtain: The enigmatic political and strategic quest of Richard Nixon for detente with Communist China

President Richard Nixon\u27s decision to unofficially recognize Communist China during the early 1970s represented an apparently sudden political and strategic turnabout for both he and the United States. After decades of virulent anti-Communism upon which a meteoric political career was built, Nixon, faced with mounting domestic pressures to end the Vietnam War and the necessity of obtaining policy concessions from the Soviet Union, embarked upon a course of detente with Mainland China that seemed to completely contradict his hawkish, Cold Warrior image. Far from being a strictly political maneuver in the months leading to the 1972 presidential election, Nixon\u27s decision was instead a pragmatic, geopolitical strategy designed as much to pressure the U.S.S.R. and balance the power in Asia as it was to bring the Chinese back into the world community of nations. Richard Nixon\u27s conservative background made the decision and subsequent Peking summit possible, as did his diplomatic partnership with Henry Kissinger

The revenge of geopolitics: the space as a metaphor of fear in the clash of civilizations

Una de las obras que más ha contribuido a forjar el imaginario geopolítico del mundo occidental es el libro de S. P. Huntington El choque de civilizaciones. En este artículo pretendo evidenciar que este libro y su tesis son estrictamente geopolíticas, es decir, que entran en el marco de los análisis que adoptan un enfoque de ciencia geográfica aplicada, útil para los políticos y para orientar y movilizar a los lectores. De acuerdo con mi lectura, la interpretación de Huntington se encuentra alineada con el imperialismo de Estados Unidos y tiene un impacto insospechado en la política interna de los países occidentales; Por otra parte, la tesis del choque de civilizaciones se basa en una ceguera consciente de la naturaleza de la sociedad contemporánea y los efectos de la globalización. Esta “zona oscura” de la teoría de Huntington revela la preocupación principal del trabajo, a saber, la defensa de Occidente frente a la des-occidentalización. El objetivo de este artículo, por lo tanto, es demostrar en primer lugar que el modelo geopolítico de Huntington se deriva de una fuerte tradición de la historia de la hegemonía estadounidense; en segundo lugar, que su principal objetivo es reconstruir un orden y homogeneidad estables dentro de la civilización occidental; por último, que el incremento reciente en el uso de este modelo puede dar lugar a un aumento de las tensiones entre grupos y los individuos.One of the works that forged the Western geopolitical imagination was The Clash of Civilizations by Samuel P. Huntington. This book, which has been dealt with primarily as a political, sociological work, is imbued by schemes and categories coming from the geographical and geopolitical. My contribution shows that Huntington’s geopolitical approach, that enjoyed a huge success in the world, has an origin in USA imperialism and that it has a much stronger impact than usually noticed. Here I will argue that the Clash of civilizations thesis is based on a conscious blindness with regard to the nature of contemporary societies and by a strong internal contradiction between its description of the world market and its interpretation of culture. These blind spots reveal the main focus of Huntington’s approach: the celebration of homogeneity inside each civilization – and in particular the protection of the West against any de-westernization

Secret origins of the state: the structural basis of raison d'état

The Italian city-state system occupies a special place in the canon of orthodox international relations. For, as Martin Wight says, ‘it was among the Italian powers that feudal relationships first disappeared and the efficient, self-sufficient secular state was evolved, and the Italian powers invented the diplomatic system’. And of course this was not all they invented. In addition to the earliest modern discourse of Realpolitik (‘Machiavelli’, Carr tells us, ‘is the first important political realist’), it is in the Italian city-states that we find the first routine use of double-entry book-keeping, of publicly traded state debt, of marine insurance, of sophisticated instruments of credit (such as the bill of exchange), of commercial and banking firms coordinating branch activity across the continent, and so on. Here, too, the citizen militias gave way earliest to the mercenary armies that would later characterize European Absolutism; and within the town walls, a population given over increasingly to commerce and manufacture elaborated new forms of urban class conflict