Energy as a foreign policy tool in the caspian region

The Caspian region offers a complex view to its observers. Comprised of Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran, the region is, on one hand, often identified with frozen conflicts, political instability, and controversies regarding the legal status of the Caspian Sea. On the one hand, the same region also boasts promising hydrocarbon reserves and is located right next to another prominent region in world politics; the Middle East. Due to these complex, even controversial, points related to its geopolitical and geostrategic significance since the end of the Cold War, the Caspian region has attracted the attention of IR scholars. The power positions of the regional states in the future are directly proportional to their ability to produce and commercialize their oil and gas resources. However, there have been a number of constraints to develop the Caspian energy trade. Frozen conflicts in the region, including Nagorno-Karabakh, the legal status of the Caspian Sea, lack of transport infrastructure, and political instability are some of these constraints.This study overviews the role of energy resources as a foreign policy tool in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan cases. It tries to offer a new perspective, which reconciles oil politics in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan with the mainstream IR theories. The current literature on energy politics expects these countries to gain leverage in foreign policy-making due to their considerable hydrocarbon resources. However, this study argues that Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan face several limitations to using their energy potential to have independent foreign policies. The study explains the main assumptions of the theoretical approaches on oil politics with a particular emphasis on the Caspian region. In this regard, the study deals with classical realism, geopolitical theory, neorealism, transnationalism and interdependence theories and social constructivism. It tries to examine what these theories offer to explain oil politics regarding the Caspian region. Finally, it intends to apply theoretical models to explain the role of hydrocarbons in Azeri and Kazakh foreign policies.