CASPIAN SEA REGION
March 2006
"What Washington Can Do About Iran"
Journal Article, Heartland: Eurasian Review of Geopolitics, (Defusing Tehran Issue), issue 2
By Abbas Maleki, Former Senior Research Associate, International Security Program
With Saddam and the Talibans out of the scene and US troops entangled in Iraq, Teheran's aspiration for a new regional centrality skyrockets, together with its nuclear ambitions. Is Ahmadinejad to lead the game in the Middle East? America's options and Iran's constraints.
November 11, 2005
Origins of the Nunn-Lugar Program
Presentation
By Dr. Ashton B. Carter, Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project (on leave), Harvard & Stanford Universities
Dr. Ashton B. Carter delivers remarks on the Origins of the Nunn-Lugar Program at the Presidential Conference on William Jefferson Clinton: The “New Democrat” from Hope, hosted by Hofstra University, November 10-12, 2005.
October 2005
"From Pipedream to Pipeline: A Caspian Success Story"
Journal Article, Current History, issue 684, volume 104
By Brenda Shaffer, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 1999-2000; Former Research Director, Caspian Studies Project, 2004-2007
“The goal of winning the pipeline battle was less to gain the moderate volumes of oil and gas in the Caspian than to maintain (in the case of Russia) or attain (in the case of the United States and Iran) significant presence in the region.”
August 7, 2004
Ban Their Bomb
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School
As the nuclear mushroom cloud became the spectre that menaced the second half of the 20th century, the prospect of a nuclear terrorist attack emerges as the gravest danger in the 21st.
January 2004
The Future of Turkish Foreign Policy
Book
By Lenore G. Martin and Dimitris Keridis
Since the end of the Cold War, Turkey has moved from the periphery to occupy the very center of Eurasian security. It is a critical participant in NATO and aspires to become a member of the European Union. The pivotal role that Turkey plays in Southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Caucasus has profound implications for the international arena and spawns vital debates over the directions of Turkish foreign policy.
October 2003
"Federalization of Foreign Relations: Discussing Alternatives for the Georgian-Abkhaz Conflict"
Working Paper
By Bruno Coppieters, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, Caspian Studies Program and Intrastate Conflict Program, 2003-2004, Tamara Kovziridze and Uwe Leonardy
"...Leaders of the Georgian, Abkhaz, and Ossetian national movements even consider Soviet federalism to be one of the main causes of the exacerbation of ethnic conflicts in Georgia and are not eager to reinstitute a federal structure. From the Georgian perspective, the Moscow leadership used federalism as an instrument to divide and rule and weaken the Georgian movement for national independence. From the Abkhaz and South Ossetian perspectives, Soviet federalism has put the various national communities in a hierarchical relation toward each other. This kind of ethnic stratification runs contrary to the principle of national self-determination, which pre-supposes the equality of all national communities. The exacerbation of ethnic conflicts in Georgia during the first half of the 1990s and the failure of existing federal arrangements to address these problems led to war in South Ossetia and then in Abkhazia. These wars resulted in the creation of two de facto states in these regions...."
July 2003
"Iran's Role in the South Caucasus and Caspian Region: Diverging Views of the U.S. and Europe"
Book Chapter
By Brenda Shaffer, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 1999-2000; Former Research Director, Caspian Studies Project, 2004-2007
This paper is part of a larger project that examined how different stances on regional issues can impact bilateral U.S.-European relations.
Since the Soviet breakup and the subsequent independence of the states of the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia), Europe and the United States have conducted very different policies toward the new states in the greater Caspian region. Moreover, Europe and the United States view Iran's policies and the desired role that Tehran should play in the region in diverging ways.
2003
The Geography of Ethnic Violence: Identity, Interests, and the Indivisibility of Territory
Book
By Monica Duffy Toft, Associate Professor of Public Policy
This book addresses the crucial role of territory in explaining ethnic violence. The theory of indivisible territory is explored in an attempt to explain why some conflicts turn violent and others do not. The case studies consist of Russia in relation to the Chechens and Tartars and Georgia in relation to the Abkhaz and Ajars, roughly from 1990 to 1994.
July 2002
Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity
Book
By Brenda Shaffer, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 1999-2000; Former Research Director, Caspian Studies Project, 2004-2007
The Azerbaijani people have been divided between Iran and the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan for more than 150 years, yet they have retained their ethnic identity. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of an independent Azerbaijan have only served to reinforce their collective identity.
June 30, 2002
"U.S. Policy on Russian and Caspian Oil Exports: Addressing America's Oil Addiction"
Discussion Paper
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School
On April 8, 2002 - the same day that Iraq instituted an oil export embargo and only weeks after the U.S. Senate rejected new fuel efficiency standards for automobiles - students in my "Central Issues of American Foreign Policy" course at the Kennedy School of Government were in the middle of presenting policy recommendations to address America's "addiction to oil.
