COVER2

by Svante E. Cornell and Damjan Krnjević Mišković

AFPC Press/Armin Lear, 2025

Link to Amazon and Kindle Edition

Link to Introduction, "The Second Karabakh War and a New Caucasus: The Regional Peace Dividend Playing Out at the Card Table"

Link to the Forward

Link to the Table of Contents

COVER

The outcome of the Second Karabakh War is a watershed event in the modern history of Eurasia. It represents the moment of conception of a new South Caucasus, the only part of the world that borders on Russia, Turkey, and Iran. Unsurprisingly, external powers like the U.S., China, the EU, India, and the GCC states are all taking greater interest in its future.

Written for scholars and designed for classroom use, AFTER KARABAKH: War, Peace, and the Forging of a New Caucasus is the go- to book for anyone trying to make sense of the geopolitics of this often misunderstood conflict. As the editors argue in their Introduction, the end of the conflict over Karabakh “will serve as a catalyst for the instauration of a much anticipated peace dividend centered on optimizing the region’s strategic connectivity potential.”

As Michael Doran writes in the Foreword, AFTER KARABAKH “performs a great service to students of international politics. We now have in one volume a set of comprehensive analyses of the main dimensions of the Second Karabakh War. By producing sharp, judicious, and readable accounts, the authors, who are all internationally recognized experts in their fields, have ensured that this volume will become the standard account of the conflict.”

Editors
Svante E. Cornell is Research Director of the American Foreign Policy Council’s Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and a co-founder of the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP)

Damjan Krnjević Mišković is Professor of Practice at ADA University, where he serves concurrently as Director for Policy Research, Analysis, and Publications at the Institute for Development and Diplomacy and Co-Editor of Baku Dialogues.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Second Karabakh War and a New Caucasus: The Regional Peace Dividend Playing Out at the Card Table;  Damjan Krnjević Mišković and Svante E. Cornell

The Geopolitics of the Caucasus and the Road to War; Svante E. Cornell

Perfect Timing and Statecraft: On the Onset of the Second Karabakh War; Damjan Krnjević Mišković

The Foreign and Security Policies of Armenia and Azerbaijan, 1994-2020; Robert M. Cutler

The Evolving Role of the West in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict; Svante E. Cornell

Sitting on Two Chairs: Russia's Pragmatic, Transactional Approach to the Karabakh Question; Nikolas K. Gvosdev

Gradually, then Suddenly: The Evolution of Tiirkiye's Role in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict; Michael A. Reynolds

Iran's Role in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict; Brenda Shaffer

Armenia's Pashinyan Conundrum: Implications of the Second Karabakh War; Onnik James Krikorian

No More War, Not Yet Peace: On the Second Karabakh War and Its Aftermath; Fariz Ismailzade

Military Lessons from the Second Karabakh War; Niklas Nilsson

The Geopolitical Causes and Consequences of the Second Karabakh War: Armenian Tragedy, Azerbaijani Vindication, and Prospects for Peace; Damjan Krnjević Mišković

After Karabakh: War, Peace, and the Forging of a New Caucasus

by Svante E. Cornell
AFPC Press/Armin Lear, 2025

Link to Amazon and Kindle Edition

Arminlear3

Link to Table of Contents and Introduction

Link to Chapter 7, "Iran's Arc of Domination"

Link to Chapter 12, "The Failure of Islamism in Turkey Reshuffles the Region"

For decades, the Greater Middle East has been a leading challenge to American foreign policy. This vast region - ranging from North Africa in the west to Afghanistan in the east, and from the borders of Central Asia down to the Horn of Africa in the south - has been a cauldron of turmoil that has affected not just American interests, but generated threats to the American homeland.

The multitude of challenges in this region has led to some confusion. What should be the focus of U.S. policy in the Greater Middle East?

This book explores this state of affairs and its implications by delving deeper into how the current geopolitics of the Greater Middle East came to be. A first few chapters look back to the history of the region and the historic rivalries among Turks, Arabs and Persians up to the end of the Cold War. The book then examines the main current power centers of the region - Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. It then turns to the geopolitical competition among them in recent years, starting with Iran's efforts to build an "Arc of Domination" across the region.

The book covers the advance of Islamists following the Arab Upheavals, the civil war among the Sunnis from 2013 to 2018, America's pendulum swings with regard to Iran policy, and the reshuffle of the region following Turkey's turn in a more nationalist direction. Finally, the book ends with an attempt to draw out implications for America's approach to the geopolitics of the Greater Middle East.

SVANTE E. CORNELL is Research Director of the American Foreign Policy Council's Central Asia-Caucasus Institute in Washington D.C., and a co-founder of the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm, Sweden. Cornell was educated at the Middle East Technical University and Uppsala University. He formerly served as Associate Professor at Uppsala University and at Johns Hopkins-University-SAIS, and is also a Policy Advisor with the Jewish Institute for National Security of America and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences.

Arabs, Turks and Persians: Geopolitics and Ideology in the Greater Middle East

241204 FT Uranium picture

 

241204 FR Energy-coverSvante E. Cornell and Brenda Shaffer
December 4, 2024.

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The United States, Europe, the United Nations and more are promoting a top-down energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, which shows no signs of emergence. Under this scenario, Europe and the global market are likely to maintain demand for the energy riches of Central Asia for many decades to come. The gas market of Central Asia itself requires additional gas volumes as well. In order to lower carbon emissions and air pollution and improve public health in Central Asia, the ideal policy in the region  is increased access to natural gas that can replace the widespread burning of biomass and lump coal. Current European policies promote expanding electrification and  is leading to a new look at nuclear energy. Accordingly, the uranium deposits of Central Asia have become of high commercial and geopolitical interest. 

 

Central Asia in the Energy Transition

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The New Secularism in the Muslim World: Religion and the State in Central Asia and Azerbaijan

The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program form a joint transatlantic research and policy center. The Joint Center has offices in Washington and Stockholm, and is affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Institute and the Institute for Security and Development Policy. It is the first Center of its kind, and is today firmly established as a leading center for research and policy worldwide, serving a large and diverse community of analysts, scholars, policy-watchers, business leaders and journalists.

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