27
force behind many regional developments and has had an impact on international
developments (www.irdiplomacy.ir 2018).
Literature on the Region
Energy routes, transit countries, and energy security are very important for hydrocarbon resources consumers and seller countries. To answer the questions of the
research topic and to draw toward a deeper analysis of the issues surrounding hydrocarbons development in the Caspian Basin, a review of the applicability is essential.
This discussion will include a review of the literature about US energy diplomacy in
the Caspian Basin over the course of the Bush and Obama administrations. In order
to gain a broader understanding of energy diplomacy in the Caspian Basin, an investigation into energy developments since 1990s is required. Robert Ebel and Rajan
Menon have pointed out that after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Caspian Basin
was opened to the outside world for the first time in around 150 years if we consider
the former Soviet period of Russian Imperial dominance over the basin region.
Given the geographically landlocked position of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and
Kazakhstan however the future of Caspian energy-producing states has always
depended on export routes which are both secure and financially viable (Ebel and
Menon 2000:13).
Alaeddin Yalçınkaya (2006:384) noted that from Russia’s perspective, it is essential to evaluate the Chechnya-focused problem of RF, one of the issues that the
future of Caucasia is based on, in the light of the sociocultural changes, together
with the historical, legal, and regional realities, which the Russian society is undergoing, so the problem is something more than the “loss of Chechnya.” The actual
problem here is related to the life span of RF. Let us convey the claim related to this
problem through Piontkovsky’s following sentences: “As Putin rightfully pointed
out, ‘Eventually Chechnya’s official status is not all that important for us.’ If Russia
becomes a strong and prosperous country in 10 to 15 years, she will have no concerns of losing the reconciled but rageful Chechnya. Otherwise, Russia will have to
worry about more serious problems than the problem of Chechnya.”
In terms of the impact this combination of new emergence and energy wealth has
had on the region’s domestic political transformations, Indra Overland’s observations seem most pertinent; with the tendency among nations which rake in a high
amount of oil and gas exports earnings to strengthen autocratic elements within
their governance and reduce the possibilities of democratization. Regularly, as
countries become wealthier they tend to become more democratic. However, this is
offset where the greater income is sourced from oil and gas exports. Oil has a direct
impact on authoritarianism, imbuing nations with a “rentier” status, which contains
three channels through which oil impacts: First, oil and gas wealth increase the ability of elites to buy support or pay off opposition; second, the income generated from
the production of petroleum makes a government rely less on the taxation of its citizenly; and finally, petro-wealth can afford a government with the financial means to
Literature on the Region
force behind many regional developments and has had an impact on international
developments (www.irdiplomacy.ir 2018).
Literature on the Region
Energy routes, transit countries, and energy security are very important for hydrocarbon resources consumers and seller countries. To answer the questions of the
research topic and to draw toward a deeper analysis of the issues surrounding hydrocarbons development in the Caspian Basin, a review of the applicability is essential.
This discussion will include a review of the literature about US energy diplomacy in
the Caspian Basin over the course of the Bush and Obama administrations. In order
to gain a broader understanding of energy diplomacy in the Caspian Basin, an investigation into energy developments since 1990s is required. Robert Ebel and Rajan
Menon have pointed out that after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Caspian Basin
was opened to the outside world for the first time in around 150 years if we consider
the former Soviet period of Russian Imperial dominance over the basin region.
Given the geographically landlocked position of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and
Kazakhstan however the future of Caspian energy-producing states has always
depended on export routes which are both secure and financially viable (Ebel and
Menon 2000:13).
Alaeddin Yalçınkaya (2006:384) noted that from Russia’s perspective, it is essential to evaluate the Chechnya-focused problem of RF, one of the issues that the
future of Caucasia is based on, in the light of the sociocultural changes, together
with the historical, legal, and regional realities, which the Russian society is undergoing, so the problem is something more than the “loss of Chechnya.” The actual
problem here is related to the life span of RF. Let us convey the claim related to this
problem through Piontkovsky’s following sentences: “As Putin rightfully pointed
out, ‘Eventually Chechnya’s official status is not all that important for us.’ If Russia
becomes a strong and prosperous country in 10 to 15 years, she will have no concerns of losing the reconciled but rageful Chechnya. Otherwise, Russia will have to
worry about more serious problems than the problem of Chechnya.”
In terms of the impact this combination of new emergence and energy wealth has
had on the region’s domestic political transformations, Indra Overland’s observations seem most pertinent; with the tendency among nations which rake in a high
amount of oil and gas exports earnings to strengthen autocratic elements within
their governance and reduce the possibilities of democratization. Regularly, as
countries become wealthier they tend to become more democratic. However, this is
offset where the greater income is sourced from oil and gas exports. Oil has a direct
impact on authoritarianism, imbuing nations with a “rentier” status, which contains
three channels through which oil impacts: First, oil and gas wealth increase the ability of elites to buy support or pay off opposition; second, the income generated from
the production of petroleum makes a government rely less on the taxation of its citizenly; and finally, petro-wealth can afford a government with the financial means to
Literature on the Region