THE CASPIAN SEA AS AN AXIAL REGION OF EURASIA IN THE CONTEXT OF CIVILIZATION DEVELOPMENT (HISTORICAL AND ELITOLOGICAL GENERALIZATION
The purpose of the research: to determine the main components of the civilizational development models of the Eurasian space around the Caspian Sea. The article consideres some issues related to the discussion about the role of elites in the development of steppe and urban civilizations. The object of this study is the Caspian region, as the axial region of Eurasia and the subject is the ratio of cultural codes of nomadic and urban civilizations. The main task will be to clarify the role of elites in the formation of these systems. Research materials: the article can be considered as a kind of general commentary on the research of leading domestic scientists. It largely uses materials of geopolitics and historical elitology. Based on the data of geopolitics and elitology, the article analyzes the influence of the chosen “creative minority” on the development of Eurasian expanses, summarizes the data of leading domestic specialists in history. The results and scientific novelty: it is for the first time that a synthetic (elitological and geopolitical) analysis of the development of Eurasian civilization codes was given which influenced the course of its history. Historical elitology explores not only the character of the elites themselves, but also reveals their role in the development of culture and civilization. The role of the creative minority in history is determined by the success in solving its problems, the ability to respond in a timely and effective manner to the challenges of its time. Cultural and ruling political elites were directly involved in the development of cultural codes and empires of the Eurasian space. The Caspian has always played the role of an axial region in the centuries-old history of Eurasia around which the most important cultural and political events took place. It was an ethnic melting pot, from the depths of which came out many different ethnic groups, cultures and civilizations. Events arose here, echoes from which rolled across the vast expanses of Europe and Asia, changing their political and cultural appearance. There were always great empires and small states around the Caspian Sea which miraculously survived in the alarming expanses of local geopolitics. This axial region of Eurasia with good reason can be considered the cradle of many civilizations that originated and existed here for many millennia. Having found itself on the margins of world history, the Caspian Sea begins to regain its identity only in our time and again begins to declare itself as an axial player of geopolitical relations.