Agha Bayramov, "Constructive Competition in the Caspian Sea Region" (Routledge, 2022)

I am very pleased to host on the NBN Central Asia Studies podcast Agha Bayramov, the author of the extremely readable Constructive Cooperation in the Caspian Sea Region? An Alternative Image (Routledge, 2022). This is a much-needed book, which looks at the developments of cooperative frameworks in the Caspian Sea region, an area that is too often investigated through Great Game analysis. Challenging mainstream depictions that portray the Caspian Sea basin as a geopolitical battle­ground between regional and external great powers, where tensions have been exacerbated by the sea’s rich natural resources, strategic location, and legal disagreements over its status, this book offers a new image of the region. Bayramov ac­knowledges the difficulties and problematic starting situation of power poli­tics in the Caspian Sea region while seeking to show that there are ways forward by identifying mechanisms and means to transform the `New Great Game’ into processes of functional co-operation. Drawing on theoretical insights from a functionalist framework, this book examines three intertwined case studies, namely the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC), the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), and the Caspian Environmental Program (CEP).

Agha Bayramov is Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations and International Organization of the University of Groningen. He can be followed on Twitter @aghabayramov

Luca Anceschi is Professor of Eurasian Studies at the University of Glasgow, where he also edits Europe-Asia Studies. He can be followed on Twitter @anceschistan.

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