Black Sea, Caspian, and Central Asian Regions in Global Processes of Political Development: Introducing the Issue

The common viewpoint, widely shared in the academic literature, is that the role of the Black Sea, Caspian, and Central Asian regions is increasing and contributes to the dynamic development of the countries that are part of them. Indeed, amid global transformations taking place in the world, the position of these regions, as well as individual states, has changed significantly. However, the analysis of this issue is impossible without a profound assessment of the policies of extra-regional actors: their role in determining the development of the area and their influence on political and economic processes in individual states. The extra-regional actors have often shaped the essence of development taking place in the Black Sea, Caspian, and Central Asian regions along with the nature of intra-regional processes. In the meantime, external actors have consistently integrated the Caspian, Black Sea and Central Asian states into global political processes, logistic and energy projects. As a result, the countries of these zones were given a subordinate role. Although these states developed their own ambitious geopolitical projects and long-term development programs, nevertheless, the results of more than 30 years of development of the Black Sea, Caspian, and Central Asian regions point to their increased dependence not only on extra-regional actors but also on the processes taking place in global politics and economy. The system approach allowed the authors to determine the importance of the Black Sea, Caspian, and Central Asian regions for extra-regional actors, assess their contribution to world politics and global economy, to identify potential directions of their development.