ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of the book. This book is part of the East West Institute's (EWI) project on "Russia's Total Security Environment" (RTSE), and so a word about Russia is in order. The one that informs it is straightforward: the study of security encompasses issues that increase the likelihood of conflict among states, or that promote instability within them and that, in so doing, increase the risk of external intervention. The extant literature on the South Caucasus and Central Asia is vast, and its architecture has become predictable. The eight states of Central Asia and the South Caucasus differ in size, population, ethnic composition, and political and economic characteristics. As in Central Asia, the nature of the states that emerge in the South Caucasus will be shaped by internal dynamics and the Hintzean insight is again apposite the struggles among local and neighboring states.
