Mehdi Parvizi Amineh, Ph.D. (1998, Amsterdam) is Senior Research Fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden, The Netherlands. He is also Research Fellow at the Clingendael International Energy Programme (CIPE), The Hague and Research Fellow at the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research (ASSR), University of Amsterdam.Henk Houweling, Ph.D. (1986, Leiden) is Associate Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science of the University of Amsterdam. His fields of interests are history and theory of International Relations.

• INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITORSThe Crisis in IR Theory: Towards a Critical Geopolitics ApproachPart OneTHE POLICY OF PROJECTING POWER INTO VACUUM AREASI The Geopolitics of Power Projection in US Foreign Policy: From Colonization to Globalization, Henk Houweling and Mehdi Parvizi AminehII Caspian Energy: Oil and Gas Resources and the Global Market, Mehdi Parvizi Amineh and Henk HouwelingPart TwoLOCAL DYNAMICIII Nation-State Building in Central Asia: A Lost Case?, Pınar AkçalıIV Political Processes in Post-Soviet Central Asia, Shirin AkinerV The Economic and Social Impact of Systemic Transition in Central Asia and Azerbaijan, Michael KaserVI Gendered Transitions: The Impact of the Post-Soviet Transition on Women in Central Asia and the Caucasus, Armine IshkanianPart ThreeINTERACTIONS BETWEEN OUTSIDERS, NEIGHBORS AND CENTRAL EURASIAN REPUBLICSVII Sino-Indian Relations: Security Dilemma, Ideological Polarization, or Cooperation Based on ‘Comprehensive Security’?, Kurt RadtkeVIII The US and the EU in CEA. Relations with Regional Powers, Mehdi Parvizi Amineh and Henk HouwelingIX Paradigms of Iranian Policy in Central Eurasia and Beyond, Eva RakelPart FourLOCAL CONFLICTSX Growing Tension and the Threat of War in the Southern Caspian Sea: The Unsettled Division Dispute and Regional Rivalry, Hooman PeimaniXI The ‘Power of Water’ in a Divided Central Asia, Max Spoor and Anatoly KrutovXII A Transnational Policy for Conflict Reduction and Prevention in the South Caucasus, Robert M. CutlerXIII International Challenges and Domestic Preferences in the Post-Soviet Political Transition of Azerbaijan, Ayça ErgunIndex