International competition in the Caspian Sea region: A study of strategic and economic importance

Abstract

The research aims to study a vital region that is important at the international and regional levels, and is considered one of the richest regions in the world economically. This importance became clear after Tsarist Russia took control of it and was later annexed to the Soviet Union. However, the developments witnessed in the international arena after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, prompted A number of countries have taken an interest in that region as an attempt to fill the strategic vacuum left by the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, which led to the emergence of international and regional competition not only over it, but also including most of the newly independent republics from the former Soviet Union, especially the republics of (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan), which are considered... Of the five countries bordering the Caspian Sea, in addition to Iran and the Russian Federation, these republics were not yet prepared for independence, and did not possess the infrastructure, structures, and administrative expertise necessary to advance the role of the modern state, which made them vulnerable to the attractions of international and regional powers seeking to contain them and establish rules. To influence it and benefit from its economic resources first, and to achieve geostrategic goals linked to the orientations of those countries second.