Transformation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict: Historical Experience and Current Developments

Abstract

The military-political reconfiguration of the post-Soviet space that is comparable in its scale and possible consequences to the process of the collapse of the former USSR is taking place now. This development makes topical the study of the roots of the Eurasian conflict and the trajectories of its development. The author of the article has chosen the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict as an analytical pattern in order to reconceptualize some explanation models and redefine key definitions concerning it. The study represents a greater panoramic view on the spectrum of the Armenian-Azerbaijani disputes. Following E. Azar theoretical ideas, he identifies the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict as a protracted social one covering both ethnic, intercommunal, interstate, national and external dimensions. He also pays attention to the major concepts of the K. Deutsch communication theory. The author traces the spread of nationalism strategies in the South Caucasus in parallel with modernization, urbanization and growth of literacy. He connects the strengthening of these strategies with the first experience of Armenian and Azerbaijani nation-states in 1918–1920 and subsequent “Sovetization” of both republics. Particularly underlying the Soviet techniques that address the nationalism, the author concludes that the specific political experience in the USSR promoted ethno-territorial nationalism. Thus, by the eve of the Soviet Union’s demise both republics were ready to launch new editions of their nation-states. Traditionally, scholars, while addressing the confrontation, oppose the Karabakh Armenian fight for national liberation and Armenian occupation of some Azerbaijani areas. The author examines the particularities of the two aforementioned formats of the conflict after the dissolution of the USSR and offers an explanation framework to the new realities of the current state of this conflict after the “second Karabakh war” of 2020.