How do the South Caucasian cases affect the analysis of Russia’s foreign policy?

There are three phases in the design and implementation of theory-oriented case studies: in phase one—the objectives, design, and structure of the research are formulated; in phase two—each case study is carried out in accordance with the design; and in phase three—the researcher draws upon findings of the case studies and assesses their contribution to achieve the research objective of the study. This chapter deals with the first phase and identifies the objectives, design, and structure of the research. Phase one consists of five tasks: specification of the problem and research objectives; developing of a research strategy and specification of variables; cases selection; describing the variance in variables; and formulation of data requirements and general questions. According to George and Bennett, a research strategy requires early formulation of hypotheses and consideration of the elements to be employed in the analysis of historical cases.