The Geopolitical Determinants of Arminia’s Location in Its Impact on Formulating the Russian Strategy Concerning the South Caucasus: A Geopolitical Critical Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58298/842026862Keywords:
critical geopolitics, Armenia, Russian strategy, South Caucasus, Zangezur Corridor, middle corridor, Turkish states organization, near neighborhoodAbstract
The present paper tackles the basic geopolitical determinants of Armenia’s location and its impact on formulating the “Russian Strategy Concerning the South Caucasus” through adopting a critical geopolitics and its strategic merits.
This research starts with the thesis that Russia treats Armenia as a "security asset" and a "geopolitical knot" within its "state-civilization" project and the doctrine of "near-neighborhood," viewing it as a tool for Russian hegemony.
The research wields a compound methodology, combining systems of analysis to deconstruct and reconstruct the inputs and outputs of Russian foreign policy. It utilizes tools of "critical geopolitics" to analyze Russia’s discourse on the "Russian world" and Armenia, and uses a "future studies" methodology to anticipate potential scenarios for Russia’s role in "corridor wars," particularly in the Zangezur Corridor and the "Middle Corridor ."
The research treated the actual and potential results of the decline of Russia’s uniqueness in influencing “the security of the Caucasus” with the rise of roles for Turkey and the European Union, in addition to the shift of Russia’s priority to “pragmatic and geoeconomic calculations” to “dominate the corridors and trade flows” to “keep Armenia in a state of “structural dependence” on Russia’s Eurasian sphere.
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