The Genesis of Russo-American Relations in 1991-2001 and the Issue of the Caucasus-Central Asia Area
Abstract
The aim of this article is twofold. First, it highlights the genesis of Russo-American relations in the field of mutual perceptions in the first decaded following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, as both (super)powers sought to find their places in the newly shaped global order.
Emphasis is put on the evolution of Russian foreign policies in the researched period that was to a large extent conditioned by Russia''s shifting self-perceptions as a post-Soviet state. Apart from that, the article attempts to explore the ways Russia''s internal evolution was perceived in the USA that had significant impact on American approaches toward Moscow; a fact that manifested itself dramatically in the post-Soviet space.
The explanation of the role that the Caucasus-Central Asia (pan)region played during the genesis of Russo-American relations in the early post-Soviet period serves as a case study that enables to show the extent to which the often contradicting interests of Moscow and Washington intersected. The article illustrates that the southern frontier of the former USSR - especially with regard to the talks of the exploitation and transit of the Caspian oil and natural gas to world markets - provided for an area of increasingly intense competititon between the USA and Russia.