JOURNAL OF CENTERAL ASIA AND THE CAUCASUS STUDIES
Year:2015 | Volume:21 | Issue:92|Papers Count:6

The European Union’s limitations to assured and inexpensive access to energy resources, the usage of resources as political instruments by countries such as the Russian Federation has made diversification and transmission lines of energy resources the Union’s primary aim in the international policy arena. The European Union aims to access rich sources of natural gas and create new markets in accordance with its economic goal; the Southern gas corridor project is in line with this energy policy. On the other hand, Turkmenistan’s strategy is to be transformed to a strategic actor in the energy domain. Turkmenistan¢s geographical location, its rich sources of natural gas and its strategy to diversify its energy export routes, especially in the period of the country’s next president, paves the way for the opportunity of extensive international cooperation.The question which is proposed in this regard is the following: what role will Turkmenistan have in the European Union’s new energy policy outlook? Accordingly, our proposed hypothesis is that with the implementation of the southern gas corridor project, Turkmenistan will actively cooperate and compete with Russia to have a presence in the supplying of energy to the European Union. The paper has been based on descriptive-analytic method and the interdependence theory.

Central Asia constitutes an area of interest for ISIL in order to create a Transnational Advocacy Network of terrorist cells with the aim to undertake terrorist actions in the battleground of Syria and Iraq. ISIL seeks to utilize cyberspace and new communication tools such as social networks in particular Khalifabook - a self-made website - to recruit and train people of the region and create a network of terrorist cells.This paper aims to evaluate the performance of ISIL in cyberspace and asses the employment of a network of terrorist cells in Central Asia. In this regard, the following question arises: how has ISIS attempted to create networks of terrorist cells in Central Asia? The authors believe that through propagating its messages in virtual space, ISIL seeks to recruit and train militias and establish a network of terrorist cells in Central Asia.After explaining ISIS’ new communication tools in the context of cyberspace, its goals and objectives in the virtual environment with the aim to recruit and train new forces as well as to create terrorist cells in Central Asia, this paper presents possible strategies in order to confront ISIL in this region.

The characteristics of the post-cold war International System and United States hegemony are not only the result of the changing structure of power, but the performance of agents and actors have also played an important role in the formation of principles of this era. Accordingly,  the anti-hegemonic acts such as the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the role played by regional actors have increased the desire to confront the hegemonic power and provided grounds for an assertion of emerging powers,  shifting the international system to its current uni-multi polar form.In the meantime, the empowerment of China in the economic arena and its influence on the international system on the one hand and Russia’s attempt to protect its sphere of influence at a regional level and its confrontation with the hegemonic unilateralism on the other hand has brought forth the following question: what are the main components of Russia-China soft power balance and how do these components influence US hegemony? The hypothesis of this paper is that components such as delegitimizing the hegemony, economic reinforcement, utilizing regional organizations such as BRICS are the main components of Russia and China’s soft power balance that emphasize the indirect confrontation of the hegemonic power and challenge the United Sates.Through an explanatory-descriptive, and with data collective methods via library, internet statistics this paper further explores the components of Russia and China’s soft power balance in the field of economic power, utilization of organizations such as BRICS, delegitimizing hegemonic power, preventing the efficacy and performance of the United states in sensitive regions which have been effective in influencing US hegemonic power.

The application of concepts of other sciences can be beneficial for researcher’s understanding of political and international arrangements. One of the concepts that have been used in Geopolitics is the concept of "Code" and "Genome". Geopolitical Genome is the political genetic map of countries that influence the behavior of countries in the domestic and particularly foreign arena. Countries consider the genomes of other actors as geopolitical codes. Interaction or confrontation of countries' code/ genome create an atmosphere that may be in line or inconsistent with national and regional interests. While aiming to identify the geopolitical components affecting Russia and Georgia, the paper attempts to answer the following question: what are the effects of Geopolitical tools on Russian and Georgian Foreign Policy? The hypothesis of this paper is that the gene of ‘great power’ ideology, as well as geo-economic position of Russian Federation versus national minorities, separatism, geostrategic and crossing codes as well as the geo-economic dependence of Georgia, has paved a way for the political exploitation of Georgia by Russian Federation. The results show that there are active and dominant genes with regards to Georgia including: national minorities, separatism, tendency for anti-Russian and trans-regional institutionalism and Atlantisism, geostrategic and crossing situation and geo-economic dependence. With regards to Russia, dominant and active genes such as geo-economy, great power idea, NATO and EU eastward expansion, Russian compatriots in soviet era and geographical greatness that affect both countries' foreign policy.

In recent years, the idea of Eurasianism has led Russian Foreign Policy more than any other idea, particularly in the Near Abroad regions. This Idea believes in standing against a uni-polar world. Vladimir Putin emphasizes that at this moment the “Russian Spring” has arrived, in order to regain its lost identity, the country should follow the Eurasian idea to once again bring back its lost regions under the great and glorious Russian flag. At the current time, he more openly and resolutely welcomes confrontation with the West and underlines the importance of protecting the countries spheres of influence. This was evident in the 2014 Ukrainian Crisis. The Ukrainian Crisis showed that Eurasianism has reached its operational stage and that Russia is on the path to the glorious days of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union.This paper aims to assess the impact of Eurasianism on international issues through the Ukrainian crisis. Therefore, the main question of the paper is the impact of neo-Eurasian idea on Russia approach towards the Ukraine crisis. To what degree was Russia’s approach influenced by geopolitical and Eurasian ideas? The hypothesis of the paper is that Russian geopolitical requirements, Russian distinct identity, the Neo-Eurasian idea and geopolitical surrounding of Moscow by NATO, are the main causes of Russia’s rigid approach towards the Ukrainian Crisis and the inevitable consequences of the crisis.

The recent importance of complicated cyber systems and network diplomacy has made it essential for emerging and effective actors to use smart power and diplomatic tools within IR. In the meantime, cooperation of actors and the benefit of smart power in the institutional framework of regional and cross-regional coalitions, could bring about revisionism in the structure of the international system and confrontation with hegemonic order.Based on this idea, the present article attempts to answer the following: what impact does the smart power of SCO and BRICS have on the power cycle dynamic? The hypothesis of this article is that SCO and BRICS actors’ smart power have affected the power cycle and challenge hegemonic arrangement in political, economic, military and technology dimensions. Methodology of this article is descriptive -analytical, based on data collection via library, internet and statistics.