Chapter Eleven. The South Caucasus As Part Of The Soviet Union: The Period 1921–1936

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Hille
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The South ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
The Soviet Union

The Oil Deal: Nariman Narimanov and the Sovietization of Azerbaijan

Slavic Review ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 372-394
Author(s):  
Sara Brinegar
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Soviet Power ◽  
The South ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
Soviet History ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Russia

This essay, with a focus on Baku, Azerbaijan, demonstrates that the need to secure and hold energy resources—and the infrastructures that support them—was critical to the formation of the Soviet Union. The Azerbaijani statesman Nariman Narimanov played a pivotal role in the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan by attempting to use Baku's oil to secure prerogatives for the Azerbaijan SSR. In part, Narimanov gained his position by striking a deal with Vladimir Lenin in 1920, an arrangement that I am calling the oil deal. This deal lay the foundations of Soviet power in the south Caucasus. Lenin charged Narimanov with facilitating connections between the industrial stronghold of Baku and the rural countryside of Azerbaijan and Narimanov agreed to do what he could to help supply Soviet Russia with oil. Lenin put Narimanov in charge of the Soviet government of Azerbaijan, with the understanding that he would be granted significant leeway in cultural policies. Understanding the role of the south Caucasus in Soviet history, then, is also understanding how the extraction and use of oil and other natural resources were entangled with more familiar questions of nationalities policy and identity politics.

Challenging the Unconditional: Partial Compliance with ECtHR Judgments in the South Caucasus States

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-195
Author(s):  
Ramute Remezaite
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
European Convention ◽  
The South ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
Emerging Democracies ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Partial Compliance ◽  
Selective Approach ◽  
European Court

The European human rights system has long been seen as one of the greatest European achievements, with its European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) as the world's leading human rights court. Current turbulent times, however, pose serious challenges to the European system, which is increasingly being contested by the deepening ‘implementation crisis’. The absolute obligation of member states of the Council of Europe (CoE) to abide by ECtHR judgments under Article 46 of the European Convention on Human Rights has been increasingly compromised by the selective approach of states, often resulting in minimal, dilatory, lengthy or even contested compliance with ECtHR judgments. As the implementation backlog has grown largely after the accession to the CoE of the newly emerged states, as aspiring democracies, in the late 1990s and early 2000s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, this article analyses the compliance behaviour of these states by looking at the South Caucasus states: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The research findings suggest that partial compliance is a very likely form of compliance in the South Caucasus states as democratising states, and that some of the factors that explain such behaviour discussed in the article may be distinctive of states that joined the CoE as emerging democracies after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These states continue to display various vulnerabilities in the areas of human rights, the rule of law and democracy. This, in turn, has serious implications for the whole European human rights system and its ability to ensure that states’ commitments to the CoE are duly respected in the longer term.

The US South Caucasian Policy under Donald Trump

2018 ◽  
pp. 55-59
Author(s):  
Khatuna Chapichadze
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Active Engagement ◽  
The South ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Us South ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Us

After providing a brief overview of the US policy in the South Caucasus from the beginning of the 90s of the 20th century as there have emerged three new countries in the region after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the article mainly focuses on relatively less active engagement from the side of the United States into the affairs of the South Caucasus since the presidency of Barack Obama maintained if not untypically deepened even more under Donald Trump currently as well. These trends are explained through the prism of the general standpoints of the latest American administrations promoting the idea of less or non-interference of the superpower in other countries’, regions’ or continents’ notably domestic matters. There are discussed major implications of such, i.e. the less active US foreign policy observed among others, also in the South Caucasus lately, although in the case of this region clearly primarily with less desirable effects as it appears in fact, taking into account on the other hand however quite diverse needs and interests of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. The article critically analyses the consequences the US recent withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, as well as its re-imposition of economic sanctions against Iran might have for the South Caucasian countries, addresses the factor of latest uncertainty over the NATO member Turkey, covers the Russian problem, and raises one of the crucial issues whether the current US President Donald Trump has more actual decisive power than the Congress, also in terms of foreign policy implementation, or not.

Integration to the WTO and Economic Transition in the South Caucasus Economies

2020 ◽  
pp. 1442-1463
Author(s):  
Khatai Aliyev
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
The South ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Concession Period ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Relationship

Economic transition story in the South Caucasus economies started after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Theoretically, integration to the World Trade Organization (WTO) system should improve the economic transition performance. This research uses the yearly transition indicators by the EBRD to discover the relationship between economic transition performance and integration to the WTO in the contexts of before-and-after WTO membership and before-and-after the end of concession period defined for a new member to implement all obligations. Author employs bivariate de-trended regression analysis estimated by using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), individually for Armenia and Georgia, and within a panel analysis covering all three countries of the region. Research findings provide strong evidence of significant positive or acceleratory effect of integration to the WTO on economic transition in the South Caucasus. Surprise finding is insignificant impact over competition policy index, which is supposed to be affected by integration.

Integration to the WTO and Economic Transition in the South Caucasus Economies

2016 ◽  
pp. 58-79
Author(s):  
Khatai Aliyev
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
The South ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Concession Period ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Relationship

Economic transition story in the South Caucasus economies started after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Theoretically, integration to the World Trade Organization (WTO) system should improve the economic transition performance. This research uses the yearly transition indicators by the EBRD to discover the relationship between economic transition performance and integration to the WTO in the contexts of before-and-after WTO membership and before-and-after the end of concession period defined for a new member to implement all obligations. Author employs bivariate de-trended regression analysis estimated by using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), individually for Armenia and Georgia, and within a panel analysis covering all three countries of the region. Research findings provide strong evidence of significant positive or acceleratory effect of integration to the WTO on economic transition in the South Caucasus. Surprise finding is insignificant impact over competition policy index, which is supposed to be affected by integration.

scholarly journals SOUTH CAUCASUS IN THE NETWORK OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

2020 ◽  
pp. 28-43
Author(s):  
V. Chechelashvili
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Relations ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
The South ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
Cheap Labour ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Attractive Region

The article considers the problems of divisive lines, separating nations and diminishing prospects of shared prosperity in South Caucasus. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resultant independence for Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, the South Caucasus has primarily been associated with conflicts, hostility, military actions, closed borders. The article highlights the causes of problems and directions for their solutions. An assessment of the development potential of the South Caucasus’and tendencies of establishing a stable and secure space with broad prospects for economic cooperation in the region based on geopolitical and geo-economic opportunities is made. Arguments are based on variety of different factors, such as the facts that the region has inexhaustible transit and tourist potential, important natural resources of international significance, and an educated, relatively cheap labour force. Attemps are made to resolve issues such as prospects for the South Caucasus to become an attractive region, determined desirable further actions of the regional states and external players (Russia, United States of America, European Union) which are necessary to achieve a result. Expanding European principles, standards and criteria for cooperation in the South Caucasus is the most realistic way for the three states to achieve shared success. Nothing better has been offered in practice with respect to international regional cooperation. The future of the South Caucasus primarily depends on the three states themselves, their ability and vision, the capacity to observe the overall picture of regional developments and assist each other, and shared activity in order to help the population of the states perceive a new reality. The stable and integrated South Caucasus will make a serious contribution to the security system in a broader regional context and will bring greater stability in adjacent areas.

Territory, War, and Nation-Building in the South Caucasus

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-93
Author(s):  
Krista A. Goff
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
World War ◽  
The South ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Soviet Leadership ◽  
The Soviet Union

This chapter refers to how World War II and its aftermath were experienced in the Soviet Union and, particularly how geopolitical conflicts intersected with national consciousnesses, relations, and politics in the South Caucasus. It discusses the Soviet leadership that tested the boundaries of its power by fostering national liberation movements among Kurds and Azeris in Iran and advancing territorial claims against Turkey. It also mentions the national actors in Soviet republics that repurposed discourses of national extraterritoriality for their own nation-building, which reignited dormant national disputes in the Caucasus and consolidated transborder alliances and insecurities. The chapter examines how the Bolsheviks created exceptions to the rule by using korenizatsiia policies to exploit cross-border ethnic ties and expand Soviet influence abroad.

Effectiveness of the network of protected areas of the South Caucasus at representing terrestrial ecosystems after the dissolution of the Soviet Union

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
CRISTIAN S. MONTALVO MANCHENO ◽  
NUGZAR ZAZANASHVILI ◽  
GIORGI BERUCHASHVILI
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Gap Analysis ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Conservation Strategy ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
The South ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
The Soviet Union

SUMMARYProtected areas (PAs) have long been the foundation of conservation strategies to halt biodiversity losses and ecosystem degradation. In the South Caucasus (SC), coverage of PAs increased after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, yet how well biodiversity is represented in them is unknown. We utilized the PA downgrading, downsizing and degazettement (PADDD) conceptual framework and the gap analysis approach to assess how changes in the PAs of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia between 1991 and 2014 have affected the representation of biodiversity. Throughout this period, vegetation formations associated with high mountain ecosystems changed (≥17% representation). Colchic lowland vegetation formations which are only present in Georgia, also changed from unrepresented (0%) to under-represented (from 0% to <17%). The effect of PADDD events on biodiversity representation varied among countries depending on the amount of area gazetted after 1991. There is an inherent bias in the expansion of PAs in the SC. Our findings could be a first step towards changing the status quo by helping conservationists to strategically allocate resources towards ecosystems that are below 17% representation. Yet this will require governments in the SC to shift their views about PAs from being only national efforts to being key pieces of a larger-scale conservation strategy.

The Soviet Union's Secret Diplomacy Concerning the Chinese Eastern Railway, 1924–1925

1994 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 459-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce A. Elleman
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
October Revolution ◽  
Soviet Power ◽  
The South ◽  
Soviet Authority ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Majority Control ◽  
Beijing Government

Following the october revolution, the Soviet Union regained majority control over the strategically located Chinese Eastern Railway, which ran through Manchuria, by signing two previously unpublished secret agreements: the first with the Beijing government on May 31, 1924, and the second with Zhang Zuolin's government in Manchuria on September 20, 1924. These secret agreements were signed despite the Soviet government's repeated promise that it would never resort to secret diplomacy. The Soviet Union also renewed control over the Russian-built Chinese Eastern Railway despite a 1919 Soviet manifesto promising that this railway would be turned over to China without compensation. To consolidate Soviet power over this railway, the USSR then signed the January 20, 1925, convention with Japan that recognized Japan's authority over the South Manchurian Railway in return for Japan's acquiescence to full Soviet authority over the Chinese Eastern Railway.

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