Outstanding Incentives and Preventive Factors in the Regional Security Complex of Mazandaran Lake

Security and strategic issues such as the rivalry-marked presence of foreigners, the challenge of strengthening the legal regime of the Mazandaran Lake (Caspian Sea), the crisis of its militarization, the problem of how best to exploit its natural resources particularly the gas and oil reserves and how to transfer this energy, and finally severe environmental problems are among the most significant challenges facing the formation of a regional security regime in the region. Common economic interests, not least the numerous capacities of the region to generate considerable profits and revenues through the export of energy, geographical proximity, shared threats and challenged as indicated above as well as historical and cultural alignments make it possible to study the Mazandaran Lake region as a regional security complex. This article’s authors emphasize the position of economic factors, particularly energy-based requirements, as the most outstanding motivation for the development of a regional security complex in the Mazandaran Lake region while explaining the challenge of achieving unanimity and consensus on the consolidation of the lake’s legal regime as the most important impediment to forming such a security establishment.