JOURNAL OF CENTRAL EURASIA STUDIES
Year:2016 | Volume:8 | Issue:2|Papers Count:11

The first years of Russian marching to Transoxiana were not the climax of their authority. Some of the reformist advocates tended to proceed inside the country after the defeating Crimea (1854). The idea even permeated among the greater community. These groups wanted to establish liberal institutions and Constitutional government as those of European countries. Alexander the second, the new Tsar (1855-1881) had deeply found out that the Russia was too weak to stand against the opposing powers and, thus, started to reform immediately.

The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in formation of 15 new republics as independent political entities. Hence, being situated among countries such as Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Iran, the Central Asia has become a "geopolitical junction".

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, vacuum of power emerged in the South Caucasus. This matter has sparked trans-regional and regional powers competition. The newly established Republics create challenges and opportunities for Iran and Turkey. The result of this situation is the competition between Tehran and Ankara in the region. This topic is highly important in regional equations because of common border between the two republics with the Iran-Turkey.

Upon initial investigation, the rich and tumultuous history of Caucasus riddled with an abundance of complexities leaves researchers bewildered. Throughout this vast land, dozens of tribes each comprised of different races and ethnicities are intertwined, while maintaining their unique cultures and customs. Thus, this complicated the researcher’s task at hand. However, this elaborate perplexity further prompted the writer to follow the trends of various tribes to answer some questions. Answers to questions, such as: What (Iranian or non-Iranian) tribes have migrated to Caucasus since the 12th century? Where did these tribes originate from and why did they leave their native homelands? How did these tribes influence the region? By employing an analytical method, this paper aims to introduce lesser-known tribes that migrated from Darband and Bab-al-Laan passageways to Caucasus between 5-12th century A.D. and to illustrate the continuing effects that they have on these lands.

Prior to developments in the recent years, many studies have been conducted in relation to the mystics and Sufis in the context of cultural studies and ethnographic subjects. Sufi sect diversity, both Shia and Sunni represents a strong presence in Islamic history. Sufism almost at all times is one of the major and influential trends in the history of Islam.

Security of energy is the major concern of the world, especially the large industrial countries. Countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus are the most important countries in the field of energy resources and energy transfer. Of the eight countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan has in total 3.2 percent crude oil reserves and about 14 percent of the world's natural gas reserves. However, there are vast unexplored regions of these countries and the possibility of further increases in hydrocarbon reserves. According to the International Energy Agency predictions, the four country crude oil production will grow significantly in the next two decades. This increase may be resulted from the development of the existing fields and the exploitation of new oil fields in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

This study attempts to present the influence of new geopolitical developments in the boundaries of the Middle East. In the new era, geopolitics is an important factor in understanding the developments. So far, the Middle East has been defined on the basis of traditional studies of regionalism including the presence of superpowers and geographical criteria. For this, the region has been divided into some sections including Persian Gulf, CIS, East Mediterranean, North Africa, Caucasia, and Western South Asia. New developments have changed these divisions. But the classical regional studies cannot explain these developments.

This paper has investigated the impacts of modernism on women and consequently the family in Russia today. To this aim we have studied the history of the women presence in Russian society and the family condition in Russia before entrance of the modernity. Then, the effects of the social reforms at nineteenth and twentieth have been studied on women and Russian family. The entrance of modernism to Russia and its influence on women is investigated. This article expresses the positive and negative aspects of the modernism on women and family state. This is based on the theories of the social analysts and sociologists of the Russia and western countries.

Security policy-making in critical regions is one of the main concerns of the research centers and academic institutes. Security-building in the regions like the Caucasus is important because the historical roots of conflict could be seen in the policies of various countries. Whenever some manifestations of authoritarianism can be seen, some countries are in the state of cooperative action. However, the Caucasus is a context for violent confrontation of some groups with different cultural, identity and historical features. In the 16th century, the regional security structure was changed and, instead, the cycle of successive empires.

From the perspective of the states that their foreign policy is based on geo-economy, the economy is the most important mechanism of influence in target areas. Therefore, with the strengthening of trade relations would be in an appropriate level to increase the mutual relations. After the independence of central Eurasian states, geographical-political events of Central Eurasia led to the creation of new economic and political relations at the heart of Eurasia, especially in creation and booming of new markets for businesses in this region. This is while Iran as one of the most important neighboring states has a suitable strategic position to capture trade markets of this region.