The military doctrine of Azerbaijan: assessing the implementation process and policy implication

Security issues in Eurasia

Abstract

In June 2010 the Military Doctrine was adopted in Azerbaijan, and new policies were put into implementation based on the vision of the document. The MD has become the proper installation of Azerbaijani aspirations to restore territorial integrity by any means including military operations. The document provided an impetus to spend billions of dollars on purchasing weaponry, developing army structure, constructing new military bases and enlarging arms production. Policies derived from the Doctrine not only pushed the rapid military growth of Azerbaijan but led to the high level of public securitization as well. Therefore, this research has an aim to assess the causation between the document adoption and defense policies, which were implemented to guide the military build-up of Azerbaijan and achieve social unity legitimizing the possibility of war.