Russian Foreign Policy in Eurasia ─ National Interests and Regional Integration

How do we interpret Russia’s foreign policy in the South Caucasus? What is the relevance of this policy in the creation of the Eurasian Union? Is the Russia-centered regional integration project meant to contribute toward reestablishing Russian domination over former Soviet space?

Employing a case-centric research design this book answers these questions by analyzing Russia’s foreign policies in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, using neoclassical, realism and regime theories as frameworks. Arguing that Russia’s material power capabilities guide Moscow’s foreign policies in all three South Caucasian states the author points out how the differentiation of the independent variables helps develop a more discriminating analysis of the effectiveness of Russia’s material power capabilities and identifies specific factors that favour or hinder the success of each variant. The fundamental aim is to interpret Russia’s foreign policies in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and the relevance for those policies of the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Lilia A. Arakelyan holds a PhD in International Studies from the University of Miami. She served as a consultant at Florida International University's Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy & Citizenship Studies, where she conducted research on international developments of interest to partners such as U.S. Southern Command and Defense Intelligence Agency. She has worked on numerous academic and policy-oriented projects, and taught International Studies courses at the University of Miami. Her articles and books chapters focus on Russian foreign policy in the post-Soviet space, different aspects of nationalism, ethno-national conflicts in the South Caucasus, and on international security more broadly.