制度竞合与跨里海国际运输走廊区域治理的转型OACHSSCD

The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route(TITR)is a multimodal transport corridor spanning Central Asia and the South Caucasus,connecting China with Europe.Following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict,traditional northern transit routes through Russia were disrupted,significantly elevating the strategic importance of the TITR and driving continuous growth in transit volumes and attention along the route.As the corridor's strategic value becomes increasingly evident,multiple overlapping institutional platforms—such as the existing TITR International Association,the EU's"Global Gateway"initiative,the Belt and Road Initiative,the Turkic Council,the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,and numerous bilateral mechanisms—have been reactivated or re-integrated,forming a typical regime complex.Institutional competition and cooperation exhibit a pattern of rivalry supplemented by limited collaboration.In core areas such as technical standards,customs procedures,and financing mechanisms,conflict-driven competition prevails,while cooperative competition appears only in specific technical domains.This institutional interplay produces mixed governance effects:while competition drives local rule innovation and enhances negotiating capabilities among corridor countries,it also leads to governance fragmentation,intensified regulatory conflicts,and increased compliance costs for smaller states.As competition persists,stakeholders gradually recognize that completely excluding rivals is neither realistic nor economically viable,prompting tentative efforts toward limited cooperation in certain areas.This evolution is steering the corridor's regional governance toward a"competitive pluralism"—a model featuring diverse actors participating under the continued dominance of sovereign states,enduring long-term competition alongside limited localized cooperation,and power asymmetries persisting covertly through debt dependency and technological lock-in.This governance structure differs from both the traditional model dominated by a single great power and the Western liberal international order's model of plural governance.