Abstract
Conflicting Global Powers and Black Sea Security: An Assessment on the Case Of Abkhazia
The Black Sea as a sub-region has traditionally been the locus of both cooperative and conflictual dynamics between littoral states and global powers. Being formerly communist states, majority of the littoral states had to go through pain-staking trials and tribulations after 1991 which re-shaped the Black Sea security almost from scratch. Abkhazia also took the center stage in this context, but what put Abkhazia into a particularly challenging position was that it had to fight a bloody war for building statehood. What started out as a local inter-ethnic conflict in Georgia eventually became a topic in the security parlance of the USA and Russia. The disputed status of Abkhazia remained in the foreign policy agenda of the two superpowers, to become most diametrical after the war in August 2008. This study argues that although contested, the recognition of Abkhazia by Russia has initiated an irreversible process. This implies that in at least the short- and medium-terms, the discord between the USA and Russia over Abkhazia is likely to remain. <
Keywords
Abkhazia, USA, Russia, Black Sea, post-Cold War era