CREEES Seminar
"Azerbaijan's Geostrategic Role in the South Caucasus-Caspian Basin"
Dr. Elkhan Nuriyev, Director of Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of AzerbaijanWednesday, May 20th, 12:00 pm
Encina West 208
Azerbaijan's geostrategic position on the junction of the East and West has
enabled this rapidly developing, young democracy to act as a bridge which
can unite not only different cultures and civilizations but also the major
economic systems of Europe and Asia. The participation of Azerbaijan in
global integration initiatives has enhanced the country's geostrategic role
in the establishment of the South Caucasus-Caspian-European corridor for
energy and transportation linkages. The main concept being laid in the
contemporary strategic agenda of national government can be explained by the
desire of the ruling elite to ensure the competitiveness of Azerbaijan in
regional processes and the consolidation of economic leadership in the South
Caucasus. Relying upon its favorable geographical location, Azerbaijan
attempts to effectively use its economic potential while adhering to its own
national interests in regional and international projects. Still, given that
energy resources are presently the most important aspect of good
neighborhood relations between the states, it is essential to take into
account the interests of all the geopolitical actors so as to form a stable
architecture of regional and global security.
Dr. Elkhan Nuriyev assumed the directorship of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Azerbaijan in February 2008 after a career in government and academe. His immediate previous post was founding director of the Baku-based Center for International Studies (CIS) at International Ecoenergy Academy from 1999 to 2004. Before that, he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan in early 1990s. He also served as J. William Fulbright Research Fellow at The George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, DC from 1996 to 1997. In January 1999 Dr. Nuriyev was invited to Monterey, California where he worked as Senior Research Associate at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) and then during summer 1999 as Research Fellow in the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, DC.
Dr. Nuriyev subsequently moved to Germany where he was Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow in the Peace Research Institute in Bonn from 2000 to 2003. Likewise, he served as Co-chairman of the Southern Caucasus Regional Stability Study Group at the Partnership for Peace (PfP) Consortium in the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch, Germany from 2001 to 2004. In addition, he worked as Senior Research Fellow in the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin, from 2005 to 2006. Dr. Nuriyev has been active as an international speaker at public and private universities, institutions and conferences in the USA, United Kingdom, Germany and elsewhere in Europe and throughout the world since 1993.
Dr. Nuriyev, also currently Professor of Political Science at Western University in Azerbaijan, is the author of numerous publications on the Caucasus, Central Asia and the wider Black Sea-Caspian basin, including most recent monographs such as The South Caucasus at the Crossroads (Lit Verlag, Berlin, 2007) and "Conflicts, Caspian Oil and NATO: Major Pieces of the Caucasus Puzzle," in Crossroads and Conflict: Security and Foreign Policy in the Caucasus and Central Asia (edited by G. Bertsch, Routledge, London, 2000). His research interests include the analysis of regional security problems in Caucasian and Central Asian states, as well as the issues of regional cooperation and integration of the newly independent states into Euro-Atlantic structures and the international community. He is a frequent commentator for international media and regularly broadcasts for television and radio on regional security issues and current strategic trends.