A Pragmatic Policy Case: Us-Azerbaijan Relations

Abstract

The collapse of the Soviet Union had changed the world politics in which the US has found opportunities for having a new type of foreign policy perspective. Newly independent countries became focal points of the US interests since some of them host significant energy resources. Azerbaijan as a country which suffered from a large-scale war became a target of the economy and energy-oriented policies. The US foreign policy approach towards Azerbaijan has been identified differently by various administrations. The country’s energy-rich position was the first priority for Clinton administration and after it became a geostrategically important state during Bush administration. It can be argued that the unstable world politics directly affected the position of Azerbaijan, and the US officials evaluated this country from different dimensions. Obama’s declining influence in the region was replaced by the Trump administration with a new perspective to balance Russia and Iran via the existence of Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus region. At the same time, this energy-rich area slightly becomes a scene of militarization. This article seeks to analyze the main determinants of the US foreign policy priorities in the relations with Azerbaijan since the early 1990s with unstable and changeable regional and global dynamics. For having a clear approach, governmental policies have been explained periodically with domestic and foreign policy issues as well as official statements of high-level policy-makers.