Non-military aspects of political interaction in the Caucasus: comparative analysis of US and Russia approaches

Markedonov S.M.,

MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia
elibrary_id: 251095 | ORCID: 0000-0003-2298-9684 | RESEARCHER_ID: E-9662-2019

Neklyudov N.Y.,

MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia, nehkludow96@gmail.com

elibrary_id: 984594 |

Suchkov M.A.,

MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia
elibrary_id: 770218 |

Article received: 18.06.2022. Accepted: 01.09.2022
DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2022.06.12

Rubric: Orbis terrarum

For citation:

Markedonov S.M., Neklyudov N.Y., Suchkov M.A. Non-military aspects of political interaction in the Caucasus: comparative analysis of US and Russia approaches. – Polis. Political Studies. 2022. No. 6. P. 166-181. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2022.06.12

Abstract

A great deal of academic research addresses the problems of U.S.–Russian competition in Eurasia. Much of this research examines such issues as strategic stability, the crisis of the European security architecture against the backdrop of NATO’s eastward expansion, and problems of anti-terrorist wars. Yet, the scholarship barely deals with topics comparing the foreign policy disposition of states from a nonmilitary perspective. In this article, we focus on this understudied topic: the assistance projects of the two countries as a means of advancing their national interests in one of the most conflict-prone regions of the former Soviet Union, the South Caucasus. The authors explain how the two countries address them differently, in spite of sharing many of the same threats due to instability in one of the key regions of Eurasia. Thus, this article will significantly broaden the issues of regional security and U.S.–Russian competition defining the place and role in the nonmilitary, politico-economic strategies of Moscow and Washington in the South Caucasus. The article is divided into four parts. First, the authors will provide a conceptual framework for the analysis, revealing the trend of the "geopolitization" of the Caucasus region and showing what is meant by non-military political interaction. Next, the authors will offer an overview of the American and Russian approaches to building political and economic projects in the Caucasus and identify their characteristics. Finally, the authors conclude with a comparative analysis of non-military approaches to regional security in the Caucasus in Russia and the United States.

Keywords

confrontation, conflicts, peacemaking, aid, security, Caucasus, Russia, USA.

Full Text

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