The paper addresses the question of why the South Caucasus states have employed divergent and often conflicting alignment and alliance strategies since their independence, although having had similar “departure points”. It argues that perceived security threats and the need for protection against them constitute the major incentive for alliance/alignment choices and employs the materially/ideationally hybrid Regional Security Complex (RSCT) theory to uncover the sources of divergent threat perceptions. According to the paper, in the South Caucasus a combination of the three major variables of RSCT—namely long-standing enmities and amities, inherent state weaknesses, and penetration of big powers—produce divergent alliance and alignment policies pursued by Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.
EUCACIS Online Paper No. 9 can be downloaded here.
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