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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 04/04
The Southern Caucasus: In Quest of a New Vision for Cooperative Security Strategy
Elkhan E. Nuriyev
February 2004
Abstract
Twelve years after the collapse of the USSR, scholars and political scientists are still puzzled. The post-Soviet life of the three independent states of the South Caucasus remains critically complex. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are still in transition and despite reform efforts, they are not more than weak nations with fragile statehood and a long way to go until peace, stability and viable democracies will be irreversibly established. For today, however, the question is whether the three countries have developed strategic visions and made available the necessary resources to attain this primary goal.
The Southern Caucasus region is fragmented; largely due to existing unresolved conflicts which prevent Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia from pooling their efforts in order to jointly address current challenges that the region as a whole faces. The lack of unity of the three countries and the absence of progress in breaking up the stalemates regarding the secessionist republics indicate the seriousness of the crisis in the Southern Caucasus and create new challenges and threats.
Another major obstacle standing in the way of reaching regional unity and stimulating cooperation are the different security perceptions among the three states. Although they aspire regional security, they all have their own foreign policy strategies and priorities. Moreover, there are clear distinctions in their individual perception of threats and national security concerns.
