Laurence Broers
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474450522
- eISBN:
- 9781474476546
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474450522.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This introductory chapter familiarises the reader with the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, and situates the conflict within the wider field of post-Soviet territorial disputes. It introduces the main ...
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This introductory chapter familiarises the reader with the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, and situates the conflict within the wider field of post-Soviet territorial disputes. It introduces the main conceptual tools used in subsequent chapters: critical geopolitical analysis and the enduring rivalry framework. The text also provides a guide to the chapters that follow.Less
This introductory chapter familiarises the reader with the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, and situates the conflict within the wider field of post-Soviet territorial disputes. It introduces the main conceptual tools used in subsequent chapters: critical geopolitical analysis and the enduring rivalry framework. The text also provides a guide to the chapters that follow.
Laurence Broers
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474450522
- eISBN:
- 9781474476546
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474450522.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is the longest-running dispute in Eurasia. This study looks beyond tabloid tropes of ‘frozen conflict’ or ‘Russian land-grab’, to unpack both unresolved territorial ...
More
The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is the longest-running dispute in Eurasia. This study looks beyond tabloid tropes of ‘frozen conflict’ or ‘Russian land-grab’, to unpack both unresolved territorial issues left over from the 1990s and the strategic rivalry that has built up around them since then. Unstable and overlapping conceptions of homeland have characterised the Armenian and Azerbaijani republics since their first emergence in 1918. Seventy years of incorporation into the Soviet Union did not resolve these issues. As they emerged from the Soviet collapse in 1991, Armenians and Azerbaijanis fought for sovereignty over Nagorny Karabakh, leading to its secession from Azerbaijan, the deaths of more than 25,000 people and the forced displacement of more than a million more. Since then, the conflict has evolved into an ‘enduring rivalry’, a particularly intractable form of long-term militarised competition between two states. Combining perspectives rarely found in a single volume, the study shows how these outcomes became intractably embedded within the regime politics, strategic interactions and international linkages of post-war Armenia and Azerbaijan. Far from ‘frozen’, this book demonstrates how more than two decades of dynamic conceptions of territory, shifting power relations, international diffusion and unsuccessful mediation efforts have contributed to the resilience of this stubbornly unresolved dispute – one of the most intractable of our times.Less
The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is the longest-running dispute in Eurasia. This study looks beyond tabloid tropes of ‘frozen conflict’ or ‘Russian land-grab’, to unpack both unresolved territorial issues left over from the 1990s and the strategic rivalry that has built up around them since then. Unstable and overlapping conceptions of homeland have characterised the Armenian and Azerbaijani republics since their first emergence in 1918. Seventy years of incorporation into the Soviet Union did not resolve these issues. As they emerged from the Soviet collapse in 1991, Armenians and Azerbaijanis fought for sovereignty over Nagorny Karabakh, leading to its secession from Azerbaijan, the deaths of more than 25,000 people and the forced displacement of more than a million more. Since then, the conflict has evolved into an ‘enduring rivalry’, a particularly intractable form of long-term militarised competition between two states. Combining perspectives rarely found in a single volume, the study shows how these outcomes became intractably embedded within the regime politics, strategic interactions and international linkages of post-war Armenia and Azerbaijan. Far from ‘frozen’, this book demonstrates how more than two decades of dynamic conceptions of territory, shifting power relations, international diffusion and unsuccessful mediation efforts have contributed to the resilience of this stubbornly unresolved dispute – one of the most intractable of our times.
Laurence Broers
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474450522
- eISBN:
- 9781474476546
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474450522.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter examines the much-debated question of conflict and democratization. It argues that over its first quarter-century the Armenian-Azerbaijani rivalry was sustained by the interactions of ...
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This chapter examines the much-debated question of conflict and democratization. It argues that over its first quarter-century the Armenian-Azerbaijani rivalry was sustained by the interactions of two hybrid regimes, in which authoritarian leaders were secure enough to secure power but not to enforce unpopular compromise. It then examines the roles of informal power structures and the persistent insecurity generated by prolonged militarised competition. It argues that while the causal relationship between regime type and rivalry is complex, over the long-term insecurity has provided important resources to authoritarian regimes ‘demobilizing’ constituencies for reform and democratic change. The chapter acknowledges revolutionary changes in Armenia in 2018, while highlighting the capacity of enduring rivalries to outlast democratic openings and remain stable across mixed-regime dyads.Less
This chapter examines the much-debated question of conflict and democratization. It argues that over its first quarter-century the Armenian-Azerbaijani rivalry was sustained by the interactions of two hybrid regimes, in which authoritarian leaders were secure enough to secure power but not to enforce unpopular compromise. It then examines the roles of informal power structures and the persistent insecurity generated by prolonged militarised competition. It argues that while the causal relationship between regime type and rivalry is complex, over the long-term insecurity has provided important resources to authoritarian regimes ‘demobilizing’ constituencies for reform and democratic change. The chapter acknowledges revolutionary changes in Armenia in 2018, while highlighting the capacity of enduring rivalries to outlast democratic openings and remain stable across mixed-regime dyads.
Laurence Broers
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474450522
- eISBN:
- 9781474476546
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474450522.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This afterword reflects on the book’s main findings, arguing that the persistence of the Armenian-Azerbaijani rivalry needs to be explained by the convergence of international, strategic, domestic ...
More
This afterword reflects on the book’s main findings, arguing that the persistence of the Armenian-Azerbaijani rivalry needs to be explained by the convergence of international, strategic, domestic and leadership factors. Acknowledging the weight of each of these layers, the afterword argues for the necessity of change within Armenian and Azerbaijani societies for the rivalry to one day be de-escalated and resolved.Less
This afterword reflects on the book’s main findings, arguing that the persistence of the Armenian-Azerbaijani rivalry needs to be explained by the convergence of international, strategic, domestic and leadership factors. Acknowledging the weight of each of these layers, the afterword argues for the necessity of change within Armenian and Azerbaijani societies for the rivalry to one day be de-escalated and resolved.
