The US strategic engagement in the South Caucasus : 1991-2002

After the end of the Cold War and the break-up of the Soviet Union new threats and opportunities filled the international relations’ system. New regions of the previously mighty empire began to attract attention of the West. The only remaining superpower, the United States, had nearly the duty to engage more actively with these new regions. The South Caucasus was the area, which was not considered appealing as a geopolitical priority during the 20th century. The situation has changed, however, with the region’s geostrategic significance revealed again as the colony status of the local states vanished in the haze of the revolutionary movements of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Moreover, the region’s attractiveness for the West in general and for the United States in particular became clear after new oil and gas reserves came to agenda. Economic development and security framework have been connected with each other very tight here and it were the US policies that determined to a large extent the fate of the region in the international system. The paper aims to examine the main directions of the American policy in the region and to show the positive sides as well as some drawbacks of the policy in question.