The world's second largest reserves of petroleum lie beneath the land-locked Caspian Sea, making the Caucasus of vital importance to both regional and global economic and security interests. This book brings together experts from the US, Russia and the Caucasus to examine the issues of conflict, foreign policy tradeoffs, and security in the region. It takes into account the geopolitical factors, Western and Russian involvement, and the interaction between domestic and external pressures. Crossroads and Conflict looks at the challenges faced by these countries and examines the possibilities for future peace and prosperity in the region.

Gary K. Bertsch is University Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for International Trade and Security (CITS) at the University of Georgia. He is co-editor of Arms on the Market: Reducing the Riskof Proliferation in the Former Soviet Union (Routledge, 1998). Cassady Craft is co-director of IntaLab-International Affairs Laboratory in Oklahoma City and author of Weapons for Peace, Weapons for War: TheEffects of Arms Transfers on War Outbreak, Involvement,and Outcomes (Routledge, 1999). Scott A. Jones is Research Associate at CITS where he leads a project on surplus arms. Michael D. Beck is Assistant Director and Senior Research Associate at CITS.

Introduction, Scott A. Jones; Part 1 Foreign Policy Development in the Southern Tier; Chapter 1 The Evolution of the Foreign Policy of the Transcaucasian States, Shireen T. Hunter; Chapter 2 Regional Security Prospects in the Caucasus, Alexander Rondeli; Chapter 3 Turkish Strategic Interests in the Transcaucasus, Scott A. Jones; Chapter 4 Trends of Strategie Thinking in Georgia States, David Darchiashvili; Chapter 5 U.S. Political Activism in Central Asia, Liam Anderson, Michael Beck; Chapter 6 Emerging Political Order in the New Caspian States, Shirin Akiner; Part 2 Conflict in the Caucasus and Central Asian Regions: Oil, Secession, and Questions of Outside Intervention; Chapter 7 NATO Expansion and Implications for Southern Tier Stability, Ewan W. Anderson; Chapter 8 Conflicts, Caspian Oil, and NATO, Elkhan E. Nuriye; Chapter 9 No War, No Peace in the Caucasus, Edward Walke; Chapter 10 A New Cycle of Instability in Georgia, Ghia Nodia; Part 3 Toward a Solution: Stemming the Flow of Weapons and Controlling Trade as a Policy Tool in the Southern Tier; Chapter 11 Developing Nonproliferation Export Controls in Georgia in the Context of the Emerging Eurasian Transportation Corridor, Mamuka Kudava, Cassady Craft; Chapter 12 Reconciling Disparate Views on Caucasus Security, Cassady Craft; Chapter 13 Perspectives on Security in Kazakhstan, Dastan Eleukenov; Chapter 14 Security Challenges for Kyrgyzstan, Orozbek Moldaliev;