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The opening of the Caspian Sea basin to Western investment following the breakup of the Soviet Union produced a major contest for access to the region's vast energy reserves on the part of powers as close as Russia, Turkey, and Iran, and as far away as Japan and the United States. Indeed, the struggle to exploit Caspian oil has been one of the most monumental geopolitical developments of the post-Cold War era as external powers vie for political, economic, and military influence in a region brimming not only with oil, but also with ethnic conflicts and historical animosities.
The coming decade of rapidly increasing demand for energy will ensure the continued interest and engagement of external powers with often competing geopolitical agendas. Thus the geopolitical developments spawned by the opening of the Caspian Sea are likely to continue to far outweigh the actual impact of Caspian oil on world energy markets. This collection of essays by prominent scholars and international experts offers several important and often conflicting interpretations of the events unfolding along the shores of the world's oldest oil-producing region.
List of contents
Foreword
Introduction
BackgroundHistory of Oil Development in the Caspian Basin by Bülent Gökay
The Legal Status of the Caspian Sea: Conflict and Compromise by Cynthia M. Croissant and Michael P. Croissant
The Caspian Oil Pipeline Tangle: A Steel Web of Confusion by Jennifer DeLay
Caspian Oil and the Environment: Curse or Cure? by Levent Hekimoglu
Perspectives of the Caspian Littoral StatesAzerbaijan: Oil and Politics in the Country's Future by Nasib Nassibli
Russia: Developing Cooperation on the Caspian by Andrei Shoumikhin
Iran: Geopolitical Challenges and the Caspian Region by Nader Entessar
Kazakstan: Big Politics Around Big Oil by Vladimir Babak
Turkmenistan: Oil, Gas, and Caspian Politics by Vladimir Mesamed
Perspectives of External StatesTurkey: Looking for Light at the End of the Caspian Pipeline by Bülent Aras and George Foster
The United States: Washington's New Frontier in the Trans-Caspian by Stephen J. Blank
Georgia: Bridge or Barrier for Caspian Oil? by Michael P. Croissant
Further Readings
Index
About the Editors and Contributers
About the author
MICHAEL P. CROISSANT is an Earhart Fellow in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University. He has published numerous articles on the southern former Soviet republics in Strategic Review, Eurasian Studies, National Security Studies Quarterly, Comparative Strategy, and other journals.
