Vol 24, No 1 (2024): International and Regional Studies: From Theory to Practice

The Black Sea region in its various geopolitical configurations is a zone of priority for the Turkish elite. Prior to the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774), the Black Sea was regarded as the “Sultan’s harem.” Being essentially a peninsula between the Mediterranean and Black Sea, Türkiye is interested in maintaining control over the Black Sea space or in sharing it with another strong power having access to it. The authors aim to identify and explore Türkiye’s foreign policy strategy in relation to the Black Sea region as one of the key geopolitical spaces for Ankara’s national interests. The foreign policy strategy is understood as a long-term mechanism of the subject in relation to objects and competing subjects, which aims to achieve the most favorable spatial position with the help of military and non-military means and appropriate resources, taking into account the timeliness factor. The article solves specific tasks: it identifies the stable characteristics of Turkish foreign policy, shaped by historical experience and geography, which underlie Ankara’s foreign policy strategy; it shows and studies the strategic vision of the Turkish elite in relation to the Black Sea region; it reveals the mechanisms of influence of external geopolitical subjects on the region and the combination of these mechanisms with Turkish national interests. The concept of Turkish balance is introduced as mechanism of Türkiye’s foreign policy strategy whose main purpose is to integrate stronger powers into the logic and algorithms of foreign policy balances of stronger powers with their mutual opposition and further balancing act, which allows Türkiye to receive maximum geo-economic and geopolitical dividends. The research methodology is represented by systemic, geopolitical and civilizational approaches. Given the role of the Black Sea region in the military-political dynamics since February 2022, the mechanisms of Türkiye’s foreign policy strategy in relation to the region are becoming crucial for Russia in various areas of national security. Authors propagate that February 2022 is the inertia of the events of March 2014 and deeper, of the postponed crisis of 1991 caused by the disintegration of the USSR. However, it was the beginning of the special military operation that brought the military and political confrontation at the global and regional levels into the format of open confrontation. Russia has challenged the West and its system of allies.

In 2020, four Arab states - Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Morocco - took their first steps toward normalizing relations with Israel with the active US support. This research is an attempt to identify the main incentives which made the Arab states act the way they did, as well as to analyze the situation of the Palestinians amidst the strengthening of relations between Israel and the Arab world. The author also examines how the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which began on October 7, 2023, has affected the established diplomatic, economic, and military ties between the Jewish state and the Arab countries which signed the Abraham Accords. The study concludes that one of the main incentives for Arab states to normalize relations with Israel is the desire to deepen military and technical cooperation with the U.S. At the same time, it would be far-fetched to consider the normalization of relations between the four states and Israel as a step toward regional stabilization, given the reaction of the Palestinians and other Middle Eastern states to the agreements embraced. The reaction reflects the failure to find a common approach to the Middle East peace process as well as the fact that there is no region-widely shared view on shaping a new regional architecture. In this context, it is worth highlighting the situation of the Palestinians, for whom these agreements were a stab in the back and created unfavorable conditions for the establishment of a full-fledged state of Palestine. The study also emphasizes that the future of the “Abraham Accords” and the possibility of their expansion will depend on the development of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, as well as on the readiness of the parties to reach a long-term peaceful settlement. The continuation of the conflict in Gaza would seriously undermine Israel’s image in the Arab world and would certainly undermine the fundamental principles of the Abraham Accords, which would diminish the importance of these agreements. This study offers a valuable perspective on the complex and dynamic relationships in the Middle East region and contributes to understanding the motives and consequences of recent geopolitical changes.

From 2003 to 2009, China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, and the United States engaged in a series of multilateral negotiations to address North Korea’s nuclear program. On September 19, 2005, the six participants achieved a “gold standard” agreement on denuclearization. North Korea agreed to relinquish all nuclear weapons, abstain from deploying nuclear weapons, and rejoin the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), as well as adhere to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. The United States affirmed its lack of nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and expressed no intention of attacking or invading the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) with nuclear or conventional weapons. China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States concurred to provide energy assistance to the DPRK. Furthermore, the agreement established the principle of “commitment for commitment, action for action,” which holds significance for the spirit of future engagement. The prevailing impasse in resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula prompts the inquiry of a possible negotiation model. This paper uses the Harvard negotiation method to examine a zone of possible agreement (ZOPA) between China, North Korea, Russia, and the United States, which culminated in the September 19, 2005 Six Party Talks agreement addressing the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. The first section of the article is devoted to scrutinizing the Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA), which facilitated the 2005 agreement. Based on the acquired insights, the second section assesses the prospects for implementing the 2005 Joint Statement in the current context. This section also concentrates on identifying a ZOPA under current conditions, taking into account past experiences and lessons learned from past negotiations.

In the 21st century, the Russian Federation and the Republic of India have great scientific and educational potential. The particularly privileged strategic partnership between the two states is aimed, among other things, at the development and innovations of scientific and educational cooperation, which has stable traditions laid down in the second half of the last century. It was during this period that the first connections were established between students and youth of the two countries. The VI World Festival of Youth and Students, held in Moscow in 1957, was the starting point for building youth cooperation, the activities of the International Youth Tourism Bureau “Sputnik,” and the first tourist trips of Soviet students to India. The relevance of the article is determined by the appeal of the interuniversity team of authors of the RUDN University, MGIMO University and Lipetsk State Pedagogical P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky University to the topic that had not previously been the subject of comprehensive research either in Russia or in India. The purpose of this study is to analyze the goals, forms of organization and significance of the Soviet-Indian youth and student partnership in the late 1950s - early 1960s on the basis of materials from the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History that were not involved in scientific circulation. The authors use a constructivist approach demonstrating the connection between society and politics and revealing the impact of international cooperation on the institutionalization, development of scientific and educational partnership between the USSR and India at the interstate and interinstitutional levels. The Khrushchev “thaw” period laid the foundations for Soviet-Indian cooperation between the two states in the field of higher education, youth and student academic exchange and tourism. In the 21st century, the experience of the world festivals of youth and students, the work of the “Sputnik” bureau is relevant, since the Republic of India is one of the important and priority partners for the Russian Federation. Students of Modern Russia also face the task of establishing and developing academic and cultural ties with India, increasing the prestige of the country in the eyes of Indians and the whole world.

The study examines the key features and areas of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s policy aimed at boosting the export of weapons, military and special equipment (WMSE) within the broader strategy of reforming the Indian military-industrial complex (MIC). The long-term goal of the Indian government is to achieve “strategic autonomy” in the defence sector. In the short term, Indian arms exports serve as the driving force behind the “Make in India” and “Self-reliant India” programmes - pivotal components of Prime Minister Modi’s political agenda. The significant amplification factor for India’s export ambitions has been conditioned in part by the escalating border tensions with China since 2017. The export of WMSE is emerging as a crucial tool to strengthen India’s bilateral relations with countries in the Asia-Pacific region to counterbalance China. Nonetheless, to propel India into the group of the world’s leading arms exporters, as well as to gain full “strategic independence,” may be hard to achieve even in the long run. Despite systemic reforms in the military-industrial complex, efforts to engage private businesses and attract foreign capital, a number of challenges impede the growth of the defence industry and the export potential of the Indian military-industrial complex. These include the inadequate development of India’s manufacturing sector, dependency on foreign technologies, and insufficient funding for military-technical advancements. At the same time, the policy of supporting defence exports and reforming the MIC has been a stable trend in the strategy of the BJP government, playing a crucial role in the fulfillment of its short, medium and long term goals.

The article presents the results of a sociological empirical study that was conducted from May to August in 2023. Its purpose was to study the attitudes of labor migrants in Russia towards various international integration processes in the post-Soviet space. The objects of the study were workers from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, working in Moscow and the Moscow region. The choice of these countries is not accidental, as they are the main migration donors to the Russian Federation in Central Asia. The uniqueness of the research results lies in the fact that despite the certain “popularity” of such an empirical object as “labor migrants.” The analyzed subject has not yet been sufficiently developed theoretically and empirically. Particular attention is paid to the political preferences and migration attitudes of labor migrants. The issue of awareness of foreign workers of the activities of international integration and military-political associations, such as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), European Union (EU), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and also the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is examined. The paper also presents the respondents’ assessment of the role of these associations in the development of international processes. Separately, the article examines the relationship between Russia and migrant-sending countries. Based on the results of the study, the authors conclude that respondents have a positive attitude towards integration associations in which Russia plays a key role. Moreover, the socio-political attitudes of foreign workers are characterized by a high degree of loyalty to the foreign policy of the Russian Federation. Migrants overwhelmingly support international cooperation between their countries and Russia and share the foreign policy position of the Russian Federation. In conclusion, labor migrants from Central Asia can be considered as a resource and capital of the influence of Russian “soft power.”

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) are important instruments of the world trade system, which have been increasingly developed in recent decades, since they complement the existing World Trade Organization (WTO) and WTO+ agreements and allow taking into account the specificities of regions. The principle of ensuring non-discriminatory trade is the main principle of multilateral trade of the WTO, or in other words, observes the rule of not favoring one trading partner over another. RTAs are, in fact, an exception to this approach, as it is the signatories that enjoy more favorable market access conditions. At the same time, the WTO recognizes the legitimate role of RTAs in facilitating trade between their parties, but requires that they not create barriers to trade with third parties. RTAs cover more than half of world trade, and new transcontinental agreements have been concluded in recent years: the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Comprehensive Regional Economic Partnership, and the African Continental Free Trade Area. There are different types of RTAs in international cooperation, ranging from free trade agreements to common markets, including between countries of a territorially contiguous or transcontinental nature, based on WTO and WTO+ agreements or protectionist in nature. The article reflects the consequences for the national economies of developing countries, it is revealed that the European Union in the RTAs is actively promoting its values as the absolute truth for all peoples and nations, and their non-acceptance is considered as a factor causing possible restrictions. Other developed economies have also imposed obligations on signatories in terms of ensuring the transformation of the national economies of developing countries, but in recent years this trend has weakened somewhat. China, initiating the RTA, pursues the realization of its national interests, without imposing any political, mental or social aspects, and at the same time is ready to develop mutually acceptable compromises. The transformation of RTАs in modern conditions is carried out in three basic directions: preference for the preservation of full sovereignty by the signatory countries; the inclusion of articles that condition the promotion of sustainable development; control and monitoring to ensure compliance with labor safety regulations, non-damage to the ecological environment, as well as the use of tools of responsible corporate business conduct.

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