Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T14:59:33.789Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the context of South Caucasus regional security issues: An Armenian perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Sergey Minasyan*
Affiliation:
Caucasus Institute, Yerevan, Armenia

Abstract

For more than a quarter-century, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been one of the most important factors influencing the political map of the South Caucasus. On 12 May 1994, Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia, and Azerbaijan signed a cease-fire agreement that ended military operations in the conflict zone and has been observed until recently. Negotiations for a peaceful settlement have been underway within the framework of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Minsk Group co-chaired by the USA, Russia, and France since 1992, but society and the elite in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan remain largely unprepared for compromise. Considering the settlement process a zero-sum game, they have generally accused one another of escalating the conflict and of a lack of willingness to restore peace. Other countries and international organizations involved in the negotiations do not share a vision of the future and frequently pursue their own interests. Accordingly, the Karabakh conflict could remain unresolved for decades more. The aim of the paper is a general assessment of the current stage and dynamic of this conflict and the impact of new trends and old obstacles on the prospects for further settlement.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This paper was presented during the ICCEES IX 2015 World Congress in Makukhari, Japan, in August 2015.

References

Avakian, Shahen. 2013. Nagorno Karabakh: Legal Aspects. 4th ed. Yerevan: Tigran Mets.Google Scholar
Broers, Laurence. 2005. “The Politics of Non-recognition and Democratization.” Accord 17: 7173.Google Scholar
Giragosian, Richard. 2005. “Toward a New Concept of Armenian National Security.” Paper prepared for the third annual AIPRG international conference, The World Bank, Washington, January 1516.Google Scholar
Iskandaryan, Alexander. 2015. “In Quest of the State in Unrecognized States.” In The Unrecognised Politics of De Facto States in the Post-Soviet Space, edited by Laurence Broers, Alexander Iskandaryan, and Minasyan, Sergey, 1734. Yerevan: Caucasus Institute and International Association for the Study of the Caucasus.Google Scholar
Mearsheimer, John. 1983. Conventional Deterrence. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Minasyan, Sergey. 2012. “Evaluating Multi-vectorism in the Foreign Policy of Post-Soviet Eurasian States.” Demokratizatsiya 20 (3): 268273.Google Scholar
Ó Beacháin, Donnacha. 2015. “Elections Without Recognition: Presidential and Parliamentary Contests in Abkhazia and Nagorny Karabakh.” In The Unrecognised Politics of De Facto States in the Post-Soviet Space, edited by Laurence Broers, Alexander Iskandaryan, and Minasyan, Sergey, 86116. Yerevan: Caucasus Institute and International Association for the Study of the Caucasus.Google Scholar
President of the Republic of Armenia. 2015. “Working Visit of President Serzh Sargsyan to Russian Federation.” Accessed December 21. http://www.president.am/en/foreign-visits/item/2015/12/21/Working-visit-of-President-Serzh-Sargsyan-to-Russia-December-21/.Google Scholar
Snyder, Glenn H. 1961. Deterrence and Defense: Toward a Theory of National Security. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Valiyev, Anar. 2012. “Nagorno-Karabakh: Twenty Years under Damocles’ Sword.” Demokratizatsiya 20 (2): 197202.Google Scholar
de Waal, Thomas. 2013. Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. 10 Year Anniversary Edition. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
de Waal, Thomas. 2015. “Losing Control in the Caucasus.” Politico, November 10. http://www.politico.eu/article/losing-control-in-the-caucasus-annenia-azerbaijan-mssia-nagorno-karabakh/.Google Scholar