A State on the Rise? Azerbaijan as a New Regional Leader in the South Caucasus
This paper sheds light into the linkages between regional political leadership and energy policy. Looking at the role of Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus, it argues that a hydrocarbons producing and transit state can maximize its position within an energy transportation network to become a regional leader. It first demonstrates that Azerbaijan has benefitted from the attention towards the Caspian energy scene to get closer to the EU and the United States. The development of a Caspian energy transportation system has enabled the Azerbaijani state oil company, SOCAR, to secure its commercial position domestically and to expand regionally. This regional expansion, coupled with the rising importance of natural gas across the Caspian hydrocarbons system, has supported the rise of Azerbaijan as a regional political leader. This paper concludes that Azerbaijan`s regional influence relies on SOCAR’s business network, that energy is the country’s preferred tool for exerting power and that its regional expansion helps Baku both to increase its revenues and to influence regional politics that may conflict with its vital interests.
Latest news
- 03/17/2020 Call for Submission: “Non-Alignment Movement and Its Perspective in International Affairs”. Deadline: 1 July 2020 2235 views
Popular articles
- 02/24/2020 The Role of Irredentism in Russia’s Foreign Policy 2214 views
- 02/24/2020 Construction of sub-national identity vis-à-vis parent state: Gagauz case in Moldova 1912 views
- 02/24/2020 The Conflict in Ukraine - The Geopolitics of Separatism and Divergent Identities (Commentary) 1798 views
- 02/24/2020 The Role of the Soviet Past in Contemporary Georgia 1797 views