Japanese academic journal—Journal of Global Studies publishes Azerbaijani scholar’s article
Tokyo, May 15 (AZERTAC).The well-known Japanese academic journal — Journal of Global Studies has published an article authored by Dr. Rahman Shahhuseynli, an Azerbaijani professor at Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan.
The article titled “Russia’s Strategy toward the South Caucasus: A Mid-term Assessment of the post-2008 Russia-Georgia War” analyzes the aftermath of the Russia-Georgia war until these days on three layers: international, regional, and domestic. It has attracted considerable attention from academia as well as from general readers of the journal in Japan.
The article has been published in a period which is quite important for the Japanese public and policy makers. With forming of the new Japanese Cabinet the Japan-Russia relations have taken a different course of direction. First time in the past decade a Japanese Premier paid an official visit to Russia. The issue of a peace treaty between the two countries, which is still not in place 68 years after World War II, was brought to agenda during the official visit. These are just some of the recent developments that make the timing of the published article important.
In the article, August 8, 2008 is noted as the turning point in international relations studies. Russia openly demonstrated to the leading political and military circles of the world that it could become violent and uncooperative if Russia’s vital interests are threatened and its existence as a super power is ignored. Russia achieved all of its military agendas and immediate strategic objectives within a matter of days. Yet, the author tries to find out throughout the article if a military victory in an armed battle is necessarily an absolute victory. The article eventually states that it is not, given the nature of the contemporary system of international relations.
In his interview to AzerTag’s Tokyo correspondent, Dean of the Institute for the Liberal Arts at Doshisha University Prof. Gregory Poole praised his colleague Dr. Shahhuseynli and talked very highly of the article the Azerbaijani scholar has published. “Professor Rahman Shahuseynli is one of the leading members of our faculty. As a specialist in social sciences, I highly value the work professor Shahhuseynli has done on geopolitics of the South Caucasus. His recently published article in the Journal of Global Studies is of great importance. It is even more so given that these days Japan is keen on learning ongoing geopolitical processes in the South Caucasus and Central Asia, which is also related to the energy issue as a whole.”
Speaking of the uniqueness of his colleague, Prof. Poole underlined the fact that “Shahhuseynli is the only Azerbaijani professor in Japan teaching at university. This fact in itself is of great importance to Asia in general. Nowadays, global attentions have focused on Asia. Given the recent economic and geopolitical developments in Europe and North America, we can urge with confidence that future belongs to Asia. Central Asia and the South Caucasus are part of this greater region and play an important role of bridge between the West and East.
Dean of the Graduate School of Global Studies at Doshisha University Prof. Masanori Naito particularly underlined Dr. Shahhuseynli’s considerable knowledge of his field and his long-term experience in Japan, which he regarded as “an asset to Doshisha University”. Speaking of importance of the article, he mentioned the lack of expertise about the South Caucasus region in Japan. Given the situation, he valued the article as a very important work which rendered a chance to readers of the journal in Japan to understand more about the politics of the region.
Doshisha University is widely recognized as one of Japan`s top comprehensive universities, with 15 Faculties and Centers and 15 Graduate Schools. Founded in 1875, it has a distinguished history of education based on the founder’s philosophy of “education guided by conscience.” Doshisha is one of the “top four” prestigious private universities in the Kansai (Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto) region, and is one of 13 universities selected by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology for the “Global 30” Project for Establishing Core Universities for Internationalization.
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