Book chapter
Особенности военного и политического присутствия Хорезмийской державы на Южном Кавказе (1225-1231 гг.)
In book
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After the end of the Cold War and the establishment of a unipolar international order, many scholars came to the conclusion that “balancing” as an instrument of state policy has disappeared. This research proves the opposite. First, it undertakes theoretical analysis of the “balancing dilemma” and defines the system of independent variables which can guarantee the absence of balancing. Second, the system is tested against empirical observations concentrating upon international developments since the September 2001. Research reveals that the current unipole could satisfy only part of non-balancing conditions, which is why a policy of balancing by a secondary power became observable. Third, the case of balancing (Russian foreign policy during and after the August 2008 Russia-Georgian conflict) is investigated. Fourth, the consequences of balancing are explored.
The recent crisis in Ukraine cast a spotlight on those countries located between Russia and the EU, a region that had long existed beneath the radar of international politics. Indeed, even its name remains indeterminate: the term 'post-Soviet' is too encompassing (it could also designate Estonia or Tajikistan) while the notion of 'Eastern Europe' has long lost any geographical anchor. Instead, this space is often named after regional powers’ attempts to shape it: as the EU’s 'Eastern Neighbourhood' or as Russia’s 'Near Abroad'. The new region-building endeavour pursued by Russia through Eurasian integration frameworks is a crucial development in this regard.
On the 29 of May 2014, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed the Treaty establishing the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which extends the provisions of the existing Eurasian Customs Union (ECU) and comes into being in 2015. This integration regime has been lauded by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a new, better version of the European Union, and castigated by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton as a new form of the Soviet Union. This report shows that it is neither. The EEU is a modern and far-reaching attempt at economic integration, but one that is weakened by internal and conceptual contradictions. What was designed as a geo-economic framework is increasingly becoming a geopolitical issue. In attempting to counter the influence of the EU’s alternative integration regime (the Eastern Partnership), Russia has shifted its diplomacy from persuasion to coercion, and Moscow is increasingly resorting to using the EEU as a foreign policy tool. The countries of the entredeux – literally, something placed between two things – are being forced to face to a geopolitical choice they had been trying to avoid, or at least to defuse. Divisive domestic politics, separatism, structural dependencies and the economic and political calculations of internal actors are key factors mediating and complicating their choice. This report focuses on these issues that are too often overlooked in the debate on Russia-EU regional competition.
The article is dedicated to the elements of Byzantine influence in the Caucasian architectural monuments of 9th–10th c. Its greatest extent shows from the end of 9th c. Abkhazia and Alania, where a local version of the provincial (Pontic) Byzantine architecture was created. In Kakheti several groups of Byzantine master-builders participated in the 10th c. in construction of churches in Vachnadziani, Sanagire, Bodbe etc., and also brought here the tradition of brick architecture. In Klarjeti and Tao the Byzantine builders, who used opus mixtum technique, were involved in different way in the 950-960’s in the construction of the churches in Opiza, Doliskhana, Dört-Kilise, Sinkoti and Ezbeki. Finally, in Armenia Byzantine influence was manifested from the middle of 10th c. in the brick architecture of Vaspurakan.