Toward a Strategic Culture-Enabled Theory of Black Sea Trilateral Cooperation

This article explores the dynamics of Türkiye-Azerbaijan-Georgia (TAG) trilateral cooperation by integrating strategic culture into the theoretical and empirical analysis of regional alignments. The study begins with an introduction to the TAG trilateral framework, situating it within contemporary regional security concerns. A comprehensive literature review follows, surveying dominant neorealist and positivist approaches to alliance formation, with particular attention to their gradual incorporation of ideational and cultural factors. Building on this foundation, the author develops a theoretical framework centered on strategic culture, emphasizing its utility in complementing materialist explanations by incorporating historical narratives, elite perceptions, and shared norms. The case study of TAG trilateral cooperation in the Black Sea region illustrates the explanatory power of this approach, highlighting how nonmaterial factors sustain and expand the alignment beyond energy cooperation to include military coordination, security dialogues, and infrastructure projects. By combining theoretical depth with empirical analysis, this article contributes to the literature on strategic culture and offers a nuanced understanding of how material and nonmaterial factors interact to shape regional cooperation.