JOURNAL OF CENTRAL EURASIA STUDIES
Year:2011 | Volume:4 | Issue:8|Papers Count:8

The Caucasus region is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in south of the Russian Federation, north west of Iran and north east of Turkey.Geographical situation and strategic significance of the South Caucasus, have turned it to one of the most important parts of the world. After several years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, this region is still important for Russians from the aspects of political strategy, and regional interests. On the other hand, given the power vacuum created in the region following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States attempts to extend its influence in the region through economic investment, particularly in the field of energy and boost military cooperation with the regional countries. The US also competes with the Russian Federation as the region's traditional power. In an atmosphere of the US-Russia geostrategic competition and possibility of waging a Cold War between these two countries, the new structure of the US-Russia relations, particularly following the events of September 11, casts a shadow over issues of internal foundations of Georgia's Rose Revolution and the Russia's war with Georgia. This article seeks to find out reasons behind US-Russia rivalry in the South Caucasus and attempts to disclose the objectives of this competition.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals and 21 targets that all countries have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. Central Asian countries have shown uneven progress in achieving these goals. This paper conducts a comparative study of the impact of economic integration of the regional countries into the world economy on uneven progress of Central Asian countries' in achieving MDGs. The indices of the study include economic freedom, membership in international economic organizations, attracting foreign investment and the ratio of trade to gross domestic product (GDP).

Regulating relations with great powers constitutes one of the most significant issues of each country's foreign policy. Nature of Iran's ties with great powers has been fundamentally changed since formation of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. Iran, the Soviet Union and later Russia have failed to establish strategic relations, despite their efforts to enhance mutual relations since late 1980s. It is believed that Iran found it politically expedient to have ties with Moscow due to its disputed relations with the West. On the other hand, foreign policies adopted by Iran and Russia at international arena differ from each other to some extent. Although there is no indication of strategic conflict between Iran and Russia, some rifts have been created between them. Iran's anti-imperialism approach and Russian pragmatism as well as an international monopoly that forces Tehran to turn to Moscow for meeting some of its political and economic needs could justify some of these rifts.

Russia is among those countries that are grappled with widespread and systematic corruption in state organizations. Meanwhile, different Russian governments have failed to reduce the scope of corruption. This article studies nature, roots and repercussions of corruption and analyzes approaches to combat it in Russia. The paper reasons that success of these approaches hinges on strengthening civil society, its involvement in the process and defining clear boundaries between public and private sectors.

It has been almost three centuries since conflict has arisen between Chechnya and Russia. Since occupation of their country as a result of colonial wars, Chechens have dreamed of gaining independence. To this end, they have always been involved in the fight and even resorted to violent actions that were harshly suppressed by the Russians. The factor that distinguishes Chechens from other Russian tribes is their radicalism and endless quest for independence. The study aims at responding to the two following main questions. First, Why Russian government stops short of granting independence to Chechens following several years of combat? And Next, What is the reason behind Chechens quest for independence? The research hypotheses are as follows: Russia intends to use Chechnya's potentials for its defensive stances against current threats and challenges in its backyard.The central government's policies are among the main reasons behind Chechens' demand for independence.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union faced the disintegrated East superpower with a tattered economic structure that had to be restored with the assistance of the West in an atmosphere free from ideological barriers. Except for Russia that still claimed to be the superpower, other countries of the collapsed Soviet Union attempted, in various degrees, to attract the West investment and technology. On the other hand, despite being affected by the Cold War, Moscow sporadically opposed efforts made by Europe and the US to extend their influence to the immediate vicinity of Russia. But gradually the need for economic recovery made the Kremlin pave the way for acceptance and penetration of the West. In spite of Russia's behavioral fluctuations, the approach of advancement of national interests has been perused by Moscow through various tactics including making use of the tool of energy in lobbying with the West.

Even though subsequent to the Cold War, Washington and Moscow geostrategic competition came to an end in many parts of the world, a fresh rivalry has been sparked between them in Central Asia and the Caucasus.This is mostly attributed to Russia's insistence on maintaining Central Asia as its sphere of influence. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, power vacuum in Central Asia brought other powers to the region and engaged them in a new "Great Game". This rivalry has been developed between regional and trans regional powers with the aim of gaining geopolitical advantages, enhancement of security structures, dominance over energy resources and extension of their sphere of influence. This article adopts a descriptive-analytical approach and analyzes benefits and behavioral patterns of regional and trans regional powers in Central Asia geopolitical environment after the Cold War. In addition, it studies objectives and interests of Iran-Russia as two main actors in Central Asia and specifies their interaction at opposite ends of rivalry and cooperation.The paper claims that Iran-Russia conflict is not in line with their interests and the approach of rivalry in a cooperation platform would best serve Iran’s interests in Central Asia.