Recasting multi-vectorism: a western-anchored strategy for Azerbaijan

Abstract

The rapid erosion of the liberal international order has generated multiple dislocations in the South Caucasus, placing Azerbaijan at the crossroads of competing region-building projects. As the unipolar, neoliberal framework recedes, Azerbaijan’s long-standing multi-vector foreign policy faces mounting challenges under intensifying external pressures.

During the unipolar era, international institutions anchored in liberal norms provided a stabilizing framework that subordinated regional processes to broader systemic imperatives. In the South Caucasus, this produced a relatively stable and predictable environment, effectively freezing many regional conflicts.