The opening of the Caspian Sea basin to Western investment following the breakup of the Soviet Union produced a major contest for access to the region's vast energy reserves on the part of powers as close as Russia, Turkey, and Iran, and as far away as Japan and the United States. Indeed, the struggle to exploit Caspian oil has been one of the most monumental geopolitical developments of the post-Cold War era as external powers vie for political, economic, and military influence in a region brimming not only with oil, but also with ethnic conflicts and historical animosities.The coming decade of rapidly increasing demand for energy will ensure the continued interest and engagement of external powers with often competing geopolitical agendas. Thus the geopolitical developments spawned by the opening of the Caspian Sea are likely to continue to far outweigh the actual impact of Caspian oil on world energy markets. This collection of essays by prominent scholars and international experts offers several important and often conflicting interpretations of the events unfolding along the shores of the world's oldest oil-producing region.

Oil and Geopolitics in the Caspian Sea Region

Business & Money

Croissant, Michael P.

Aras, Bülent

Economics

Praeger

The New Geopolitics of Eurasia and Turkey's Position

This work explores the geopolitical struggles that are currently underway in the newly independent states of the Caucasus region, showing how many players in the region are coalescing into two opposing blocs. The growing political, military and economic ties amongst the countries of these two blocs stem from a number of developments in the region, most notably the fall of the Soviet Union, and consequently the end of the Cold War and its bi-polar global alliance structure. These blocs are competing for influence in the region, and the rights to exploit and transport the rich energy resources that have been found in the Caspian Sea. The text shows how many actors have been willing to co-operate in other non-energy related issues, in the hope of receiving a financial reward when countries do decide on these matters.

Reference

Routledge

Turkey's State Crisis: Institutions, Reform, and Conflict (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East)

Review\nVery interesting and valuable to students of Turkey. The book does a great job of explaining a change in civil and military bureaucracy and how the AKP was able to manage to hold to power despite so many challenges. ― Ekrem Karakoc, Binghamton University, State University of New York\nWhat accounts for the regression of Turkey’s stature from a “model” country to one riddled with state crisis and conflict? Unable to adapt to the challenges of the era and failing to respond to ethnic and multicultural political demands for reform, the Turkish state has resisted change and stuck to its ideological roots stemming from the 1930s. In Turkey’s State Crisis, Aras delves into the historical, political, and geopolitical background of the country’s decline. In an effort to delineate the origin of the crisis, Aras investigates several perspectives: the political elites’ attempt to change the administrative system to create a performance-oriented one; the bureaucracy’s response, concerns, and resistance to change; the state’s conflict resolution capacity; and the transformation of foreign/security policy. Providing a comprehensive portrait of the Turkish state’s turmoil, Aras creates a blueprint for the ways in which much-needed reforms can break vicious cycles of political polarization, rising authoritarianism, and weak state institutions.\nBook Description\nExplores the historical, political, and geopolitical factors that have contributed to the unraveling of Turkey's reform process.

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

USYRC

What accounts for the regression of Turkey's stature from a "model" country to one riddled with state crisis and conflict? Unable to adapt to the challenges of the era and failing to respond to ethnic and multicultural political demands for reform, the Turkish state has resisted change and stuck to its ideological roots stemming from the 1930s. In Turkey's State Crisis, Aras delves into the historical, political, and geopolitical background of the country's decline. In an effort to delineate the origin of the crisis, Aras investigates several perspectives: the political elites' attempt to change the administrative system to create a performance-oriented one; the bureaucracy's response, concerns, and resistance to change; the state's conflict resolution capacity; and the transformation of foreign/security policy. Providing a comprehensive portrait of the Turkish state's turmoil, Aras creates a blueprint for the ways in which much-needed reforms can break vicious cycles of political polarization, rising authoritarianism, and weak state institutions.

Syracuse University Press

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