Ethnic and Religious Roots of Regional Conflicts in the Caucasus

The main causes of ethnic conflict are territorial issues and territorial disputes. In the Caucasus, all armed ethnic confrontations were initially interstate conflicts and at times were related to religious differences.     

United States' strategic possibilities in the South Caucasus

South Caucasus is an area where the United States can obtain a wide number of strategic advantages if a coherent policy towards South Caucasus and the Caucasian Region is developed. This article seeks to throw light on some of the most important objectives the United States can obtain in the region, and explain how the policy of multiple outlets is a cornerstone in American policy for South Caucasus. Furthermore we look at the problems of the current policy, especially those concerning the Baku‐Ceyhan pipeline.     

The EU in the South Caucasus and the Impact of the Russia-Ukraine War

Despite hopes that it would act as a transformative tool in the South Caucasus to strengthen democracy, stability, security and regional cooperation, the Eastern Partnership (EaP) has produced limited results, with the region more fragmented today than it was five years ago. Russia’s war against Ukraine has further exacerbated the situation, raising concerns over the extent to which South Caucasus countries can genuinely rely on the West. Today, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan have different geostrategic trajectories. While Georgia has stuck to the Euro-Atlantic track, Armenia joined the Russian-led Eurasian Union in January 2015. Meanwhile Azerbaijan has the luxury of choosing not to choose. Developments in the region have demonstrated that a ‘one size fits all’ approach does not work and a more differentiated policy is required.     

Guns,roses and democratization: Huntington's secret admirer in the Caucasus

Georgia is the most democratic country in the Caucasus, but arguably its democratization has also been riddled by Huntingtonian developmental crises, resulting in ethnic conflicts and civil wars. We argue that variation in the type of political instability is best understood by focusing on the interaction between nationalism and political institutionalization rather than on their independent effects. We show that Gamsakhurdia's “state-breaking nationalism”, coupled with political deinstitutionalization, produced separatist and centrist civil wars. When Saakashvili's “state-making nationalism” enhanced state capacity, it marginalized the opposition and rekindled frozen separatist conflicts, but stronger administrative institutions enabled the government to avert another revolutionary regime change.     

高加索"热点"浅析

苏联解体后,俄罗斯与高加索地区的历史积怨以及该地区内部的各种矛盾逐渐公开化,加之外部势力趁俄罗斯衰弱之机,加紧对高加索地区渗透、干涉和争夺,使这一地区的局势变得动荡不安,成为世界热点地区.格鲁吉亚政权的变动有可能引发新的动荡,高加索地区局势仍难以稳定.     

Visibly Invisible: EU Engagement in Conflict Resolution in the South Caucasus

Abstract

This essay examines growing European Union (EU) involvement in the South Caucasus, focusing on efforts to resolve the protracted conflicts in the regions of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh. To date, the EU has occupied a back seat in conflict resolution efforts, supporting organisations such as the UN and OSCE, which have taken the lead role. However, over a decade of negotiations has produced few tangible results and the EU now has the opportunity to play a much greater role. This essay argues that the EU needs to become more involved: it has a much wider range of tools at its disposal with which to influence the various situations and it is in its own interest to ensure the stability of its neighbours.     

Lost in Transition: The Liberal International Order in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus

Abstract

While espoused by the newly independent states after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the liberal order has not taken root in interstate relations and is now openly contested in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus. However, the challenges presented (primarily by Russia) to the international order also trigger growing contestation, in several Eastern European and South Caucasus countries, of an existing regional order premised on Russian hegemony. Therefore, the picture that emerges from these multiple contestations is not an alternative regional order, but rather overlapping orders in a fragmented region.     

Demographic manipulation in the Caucasus (with special reference to Georgia)

The author discusses political developments in the Caucasus region since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The focus is on the events in Georgia that led to the war in South Ossetia (particularly in Abkhazia), and the author suggests that this development is the latest in a 200-year history of demographic manipulation of minority peoples by the region's two major powers, Russia and Georgia. Parallels are drawn between the Georgian war in Abkhazia and Russia's war in Chechenia. The author questions the value of the principle of territorial integrity, and suggests that alternative principles safeguarding the rights of ethnic minorities would be more appropriate in these circumstances.     

非传统安全视角下的生物安全

本文简述了传统安全观向非传统安全观的转变 ,在非传统安全理论视角下探讨了以自然的传染病威胁和恶意的生物恐怖主义威胁为主要内容的生物安全威胁的非传统特点 ,并对由生物安全所引发的“人本安全观”作一理论的反思。     

美俄争夺外高加索的发展态势

外高加索地区的战略重要性决定了美俄之间的角逐将会持续下去。美俄各有优势,也各有弱点,阿塞拜疆、亚美尼亚和格鲁吉亚基本国情和需求各不相同。俄美在外高加索地区今后将维持目前这种竞争中共存的动态平衡局面,但双方的力量对比将随着两国在整个世界范围内相互较量的态势发展而发生相应变化。     

吉林省粮食安全政策选择

2010年我国的粮食产量达到54 641万吨,增产2.9%。[1]尽管如此,我国的粮食安全问题仍然是十分重要的大问题,全球的粮食安全问题仍然很严重,粮价维稳已成为各国的头等大事,2010年全球玉米价格暴涨了52%,小麦上涨了49%,黄豆上涨了28%。[2]有些问题是自然灾害造成的,有些问题是人为造成的,这使全球经济陷入一种十分不稳定的状态。当今全球社会十分害怕粮食价格上涨,有些人把这些问题摆在与金融危机同一个位置上。     

拉美地区的安全形势与安全合作

当前拉美国家面临的安全问题和安全形势包括国际安全和国内安全两个方面。国际安全方面的主要威胁和问题是恐怖主义、毒品走私、非法移民和难民、边界和领土的争端与冲突、霸权主义和强权政治的威胁、敌对势力的颠覆活动。国内安全方面的主要威胁和问题是政治的脆弱性、治理能力的丧失、经济的危机、失业和贫困人口的增加、社会的动乱、民族间的冲突。自冷战结束以来 ,恐怖主义的凸显成为影响国际安全的主要因素之一。“九一一”事件后 ,拉美国家之间、拉美国家与美国之间在安全和反恐问题上的合作在加强。出于各自利益的考虑 ,美国在安全和反恐斗争方面需要拉美国家的合作 ,而拉美国家在维护国内和国际安全方面也需要美国的支持。然而 ,拉美国家之间 ,特别是美拉之间在上述问题上也存在不少矛盾和斗争。美国借反恐加紧控制拉美国家 ,而拉美国家当然不会听任美国的控制。美拉之间这种既有合作又有矛盾和斗争的状况将会继续下去。     

论价值安全与国家总体安全体系

人的普遍性决定了价值的普遍性,人的特殊性决定了价值的差异性和多元性。价值的多元性和差异性正是引发不同价值体系安全问题的本质因素。狭义的价值安全是指一个国家、地区或民族、阶层的价值观念没有危险、不受威胁,即观念化价值体系安全。广义的价值安全是实在性价值体系安全与观念化价值体系安全(价值观安全)的统一。国家价值安全由国家内的价值安全和国家价值的安全构成,前者以多元价值主体的价值认同为重要表征,后者以国家的价值主权为重要表征。就其对国家总体安全体系的意义而言,价值体系是元文化,且观念化价值体系安全是文化安全的一部分,因而价值安全是文化安全的核心,也是元文化安全,必然地成为国家总体安全体系的重要构成要素;价值安全又意味着国家总体安全体系所有构成要素的价值目标、价值规范的安全,因而又是国家总体安全不可或缺的柔性支撑。     

On Value Security and the Overall National Security System

The universality of human nature determines the universality of values and its particularity determines the diversity and plurality of values that is the fundamental determinant of security problems among different value systems. In a narrow sense, value security refers to a situation in which value concepts of a state, region, or a nation, social class are not under threat from the external adversaries, which is called conceptual value security. In a broad sense, value security refers to the consistency between the system of realistic value security and that of conceptual value security. National value security encompasses both value security in a nation-state and security of national values, in which the former is featured by the recognition and acceptance of a prevailing value in a nation-state, and the latter is characterized by the sovereignty of national values. Due to the fact that the issue of value system is a meta-theoretical one and the security of conceptual value system is part of cultural security, value security holds a core position in cultural security and is an important component of overall national security system. Additionally, value security embodies the security of value pursuits and value criteria in different spheres of the overall national security system and therefore, it is also an indispensable and flexible support to the overall national security.     

政治安全的内容及在国家安全体系中的地位

国家政治安全在内容构成上包括国家政治思想安全、国家政治制度安全、国家政治活动安全三个部分。包括国家政治权力归属在内的"权属问题"是国家安全的根本问题,"国家权属安全"是国家政治安全的核心。在内含"人民主权"观念的社会主义国体中,政治安全最核心的内容是全体国民政治权利的安全。在国家政治制度和国家政治思想不适应社会发展和国民需要时,特别是在国民具有变革现存政治制度和政治思想的普遍要求时,政治变革便成为国家政治安全和整个国家安全的重要条件和保障,从而也成为国家政治安全和整个国家安全的重要内容和构成要素。虽说政治安全是国家安全的本质,经济安全是国家安全的基础,但在社会主义民主政治条件下,只有国民安全才是国家安全及其所包括的政治安全的核心,是包括政治安全活动在内的一切国家安全活动的根本目的。