Books and Articles

The rapid erosion of the liberal international order has generated multiple dislocations in the South Caucasus, placing Azerbaijan at the crossroads of competing region-building projects. As the unipolar, neoliberal framework recedes, Azerbaijan’s long-standing multi-vector foreign policy faces mounting challenges under intensifying external pressures. During the unipolar era, international institutions anchored in liberal norms provided a…

The antagonistic relationship between the proverbial “East” and “West” is gradually re-entering the discourse of International Relations scholars amid what many see as the resurgence of great power competition. This dichotomy between two spheres of influence—from the colonial Occident versus Orient, to the modern Pax Americana versus the so-called “Axis of Upheaval”—shall survive forever in…

On August 8, in an unexpected yet very symbolic venue, the White House, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a joint memorandum to show their commitment to peace and define parameters of a possible solution to the connectivity dispute in southern Zangezur. The Trump administration has been “working” on the Armenia-Azerbaijan matters ever since early March, and…

“Who controls the Heartland commands the World-Island; who rules the World-Island commands the world.” — Halford Mackinder, 1904 In the early 2010s, the European petrochemical industry stood as a global benchmark — technologically sophisticated, environmentally conscious, and commercially competitive. From Antwerp to the Ruhr, European refineries and crackers powered the continent’s industrial base, serving the…

The relationship between Azerbaijan and Russia is undergoing a fundamental shift, marked by rising tensions, strategic recalibrations, and broader geopolitical implications for the South Caucasus. What might have begun as isolated incidents—dismissed by some as bureaucratic turf wars or local criminality—has evolved into a wider geopolitical rupture. The Baku-Moscow axis, once grounded in transactional pragmatism,…

The June 2025 Iran-Israel escalations, though brief, disrupted Armenia’s economic activity on the trade routes passing through Iran, one of its major trade partners. Probability of continuing risks to economic stability and trade have sparked widespread concern in Armenian media and expert circles, surfacing in parallel to the anticipated threats to Armenian security, significantly contingent…