Domestic debates and foreign policy-making in the Caspian region. The case of export pipelines from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan

Duration: 2011 - 2017, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation from 2011 until 2014, Head of project: Prof. Heiko Pleines
 

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Research question:

Although the oil and gas reserves of the Caspian Sea Basin are relatively small in global comparison, they are of major geopolitical importance as they are controlled neither by OPEC nor by Russia. Therefore, they offer the USA and the EU as well as China the chance to diversify their energy supplies. The struggle over control of oil and gas production and transportation has been called a ‘New Great Game’ with reference to the original ‘Great Game’, which described the struggle between the British and the Russian empires over control of Central Asia in the 19th century. Accordingly, accounts of the plans for export pipelines from the Caspian region focus on the actions of the international players and treat the states of the Caspian region as mere objects.

But in the present constellation the countries of the Caspian region are relevant players. And they discuss their options not only in terms of economic gains but see their decision on export pipelines as basis for a strategic alliance with broader implications. With that an examination of the national debates and decisions concerning export pipelines offers deep insights into policy-making processes and the character of public debates in authoritarian states. The project looks at Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan for the period 1998-2013.

It is the main aim of the project to analyse foreign policy making in relation to export pipelines as well as the scope of public debates and the role of mass media in authoritarian states. Accordingly the focus is on the internal politics of authoritarian regimes (in the context of comparative politics) and not on International Relations as such. A corpus of about 4,000 media reports is presently being used to examine the national media debates on export pipeline options. The selection of mass media and the guidelines for analysis are documented here.

Publications:

Heinrich, Andreas / Pleines, Heiko (2021): Debates about export pipelines from the post-Soviet region: Opinion leaders and advocacy coalitions, in: Extractive Industries and Society, 8:4, online only

Heinrich, Andreas / Pleines, Heiko (2018): The Meaning of ‘Limited Pluralism’ in Media Reporting under Authoritarian Rule, in: Politics and Governance 6:2, 103-111 (open access)

Chuvychkina, Inna (Hg.): Eksportnye nefte- i gazoprovody na postsovetskom prostranstve. Analiz truboprovodnoi politiki v svete teorii mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii, Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag, 2015.

Andreas Heinrich, Heiko Pleines (eds) (2015): The political economy of the Caspian oil and gas states, special section, Journal of Eurasian Studies 6(2)

Andreas Heinrich (ed.) (2015): Energy, Caucasus Analytical Digest No. 69

Andreas Heinrich, Heiko Pleines (eds.) (2014): Export Pipelines from the CIS Region. Geopolitics, Securitization, and Political Decision-Making, Stuttgart (ibidem-Publishers).

Andreas Heinrich, Heiko Pleines (2014): Argumente und Debatten? Die Medienberichterstattung in Kasachstan und Turkmenistan zu Exportpipelines aus der Kaspischen Region, Zentralasien-Analysen No.74, pp.7-12.

Lusine Badalyan (2012): Interlinked Energy Supply and Security Challenges in the South Caucasus, Caucasus Analytical Digest No. 33, pp.2-8.

Nozima Akhrarkhodjaeva (2012): Medien in Kasachstan, Zentralasien-Analysen No. 59, pp.10-16.

Ksenia Krauer-Pacheco (2011): Turkey as a Transit Country and Energy Hub. The Link to Its Foreign Policy Aims, Working Papers and Materials of the Research Centre for East European Studies, No. 118, 64 pp