Neoclassical Realist Model of Soft-Balancing concept: Rethinking Azerbaijan’s foreign and security strategy vis-á-vis hegemony-seeking Russia, 1991-2016

Not long after the Soviet Union’s demise, Russia’s attempts to re-establish its dominion over the South Caucasus where three republics re-gained their independence has become evident. In this regard, the most difficult task for the post-independent Azerbaijan in its relations with Russia was to find an appropriate strategy to reinforce the country’s independence, sovereignty and political autonomy. This thesis employs Neoclassical Realism to analyse the concept of soft-balancing as a foreign policy strategy pursued by Azerbaijani leadership to deal with the hegemony-seeking Russia. The argument here is that Azerbaijan’s foreign policy behaviour since the end of 1993 represents mixed patterns of balancing, which takes non-military and more indirect shape and cooperation in a number of low-salience areas. In this respect, Baku covers its real strategic intentions and balances against Russia through less provocative means. While the thesis traces how Azerbaijan engaged in soft-balancing in the last more than twenty years, it also identifies the external and internal factors that came into play in Azerbaijan’s deployment of the soft-balancing as a foreign policy strategy.