Impact of power relations on national security of the Transcaucasian states

Abstract

In the international environment of continuing struggle for power the importance of national security for sovereign nation-states gains a particular prominence. However, there is a gulf of difference in the meanings of the concept of national security for different nations. For industrialized nations of the developed world national security means struggle for power per se, i.e. increasing the influence over other nations or over the entire regions; the same concept for developing countries, especially for small nations in transition, means physical survival per se. According to this approach to national security issues for small developing states, there can be distinguished several dimensions of national security, i.e. factors on which the physical survival of small states in transition depends. Military, economic, and demographic dimensions of national survival for the three Transcaucasian states are discussed in the present study. Based on these dimensions and on “the rules of the game” set by Major Powers on the contemporary international scene, certain foreign, as well as internal, policy alternatives are recommended for Transcaucasian states.