Regional Security and Energy Geopolitics of Central Asia

Abstract

Proposed monograph discusses definitions, basic concepts and approaches of regional security with respect to Central Asia. Regional securityis a very complex concept and geopoliticians have given it to different meanings in different times and places. In the present study it has beenexamined that how geopolitics has been affected and shaped by regional security theories and other factors. Generally, there are identifiedfive major interdisciplinary factors (social, military, physical, environmental and political) which affect security of region, therefore, all thesefactors have also been analysed with respect to the study region. Further, four dimensions of the regional security and energy geopoliticshave also been discussed in respect to the study region. Under the first dimension, the foreign powers intervention in the study region e.g. like1973 Iran policy has been discussed. Under the second dimension, the intraregional ethnic clash because of unequal distribution of oil wealththe regional security of Central Asia has been debated. The third dimension includes a detailed study of militant attacks on oil and gas facilitiesas a result of ideological differences. This sort of analysis is helpful in identifying potential militants and terrorist threats. The fourthdimension of border dispute as the cause of regional conflicts and risk to the security of the region has been examined. In the present studyfour case studies i.e. the Iran’s APOC oil embargo of 1973, Nigeria and Sudan ethnic conflicts over hydrocarbons resources, Iraq-Kuwait borderdispute and Iraq war and militant attack in Saudi Arab and Iraq’s oil and gas facilities have been taken to identify and correlate regionalsecurity problems and energy geopolitics. Adopting this methodology and in the light of these case studies, a scenario building exercise hasbeen carried out related to the regional security and energy geopolitics of the Central Asia.