Abstract:
The collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequently theemergence of new republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus can be considered as a turning point in the fountainhead of extended changes and developments within the equations at fhe regional and transregional levels. This article endeavors to create a conceptual framework for the analysis and extrapolation of the foreign policy. approach adopted by the regional states toward the neighboring countries in general and Iran in particular. The main question includes which variables are significant in analyzing their foreign policies' decision-making processes. In this perspective, the article argues that the foreign policy conduct of these states derive from a series of constant specifications mainly stemming from their long• term dependency on Russia. Such characteristics have undermined the process of political, economic and social transition on the one hand and have led foreign policy conduct of these states to the point where they have not naturally been able to expand their relat_ions with the neighboring countries and particularly Iran.
Machine summary:
**Translated into English by Hamid Marashi, PhD Discourse: An Iranian Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. I (Summer 2003): 1-30 Introduction he disintegration of the Soviet Union and the subsequent emergence of new states in Central Asia and Caucasus region · were the fountainhead of extended changes and developments within the structure of the international system, the equations of the Eurasian region, and the Middle East and Iran in particular.
This major development was coterminous with debates galore to explore avenues of replacing the Soviet Union power vacuum in the region, to the extent that the strategic, geopolitical, geo-economic, and geo-cultural equations of the region were decisively impacted thereby giving birth to a new area of analysis and investigation for the experts of international relations, regional studies, and comparative policies.
The foreign policy conduct of Central Asian states and Caucasus derives from a series of sustainable ethnic, historical, cultural, and identity specifications and also structural dependency on Russia in various economic, political, and security aspects on the one hand and the specific qualities of the ruling elite in these countries on the other.
The product of such a development was the formulation of a new form ofreplacing power in the region, one of the features of which would be a rise to prominence when it comes to the role of the international players led by the United States in the political, economic, and security domain of Central Asia and Caucasus.