CaC
Title of the Research Project:
Negotiating Strategic Partnerships: Domestic Roots of Foreign Policies in Post-Soviet Eurasia
Main Goals of the Research Project:
- Advance the foreign policy analysis approach to the study of international relations in the South Caucasus and Central Asia
- Examine the role of the nexus between domestic politics and external context in shaping foreign policy changes and continuities in the region.
Short Description of the Research Project
The research seeks to understand how domestic political processes influence strategic foreign policy decisions in the post-Soviet states of Eurasia. “Small states”—a classification routinely used for states in the Caucasus and Central Asia—are conventionally treated as actors whose foreign relations are limited to reacting and adjusting to developments at the international level. Yet, the countries of that region have a history of changes in their international relations that cannot be covered by “systemic-level” explanations alone. This research, which looks at Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, examines how strategic foreign policy decisions, such as international alliances and affiliation strategies, reflect a balance of domestic and external political pressures.