The southern caucasus: a struggle for

The Key Players of

South Caucasian Policy

The Southern Caucasus’ present-day policy is characterized by a high level of complexity and

dynamic rivalry among the global, regional, and local players. The United States, the Islamic world,

Russia, and the European countries are the global players, the regional actors include Turkey and

Iran, while the independent South Caucasian countries, such as Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia,

constitute the local players. Moreover, several powerful international organizations, such as the

OSCE, CIS, EU, NATO, OIC, and others, plus religious and humanitarian organizations, are oper-

ating and shaping policy in this part of the world. Meanwhile, the large family of influential mul-

tinational oil corporations and companies, such as BP (UK), Amoco (U.S.), UNOCAL (U.S.),

McDermott International (U.S.), and others, have their own stakes in the Caucasus’ tangled web of

oil and politics.

So, in the 21st century, the Southern Caucasus, just as the entire Greater Caucasus region, con-

tinues to be a complex and unassimilated area for the Russians and of strategic importance for global

policy, international security, and energy security.

2

 See: L.C. Stecchini, History of Iran. The Persian Wars, Iran Chamber Society, available at [http://www.

iranchamber.com/history/articles/persian_wars3.php].

3

 See: Ch. van der Leeuw, Azerbaijan: A Quest for Identity: A Short History, Palgrave Macmillan, July 2000, p. 48,

available at [http://us.macmillan.com/azerbaijan-1].

4

 See: Azerbaijan: Seven Years of Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki (Organization: U.S.),

1994, p. xiii, available at [http://www.paperbackswap.com/Azerbaijan-Seven-Years-Conflict-Nagorno/book/1564321428/];

T. Marshall, “Caspian Sea: Oil in a Tinderbox,” Kansas City Star, 8 March, 1998, p. K-6.

5

 See: Mir Yusif Mir-Babayev, “Baku Barons Day, Foreign Investments in Azerbaijan’s Oil,” Azerbaijan Internation-

al, Summer 2004, pp. 82-85, available at [http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai122_folder/122_articles/

122_foreign_investment.html].

6

 See: Zb. Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard. American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives, Basic Books: New

York, 1997.

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