For almost nine decades, since their mass-resettlement to the Levant in the wake of the Genocide and First World War, the Armenian communities of Lebanon and Syria appear to have successfully maintained a distinct identity as an ethno-culturally diverse group, in spite of representing a small non-Arab and Christian minority within a very different, mostly Arab and Muslim environment. The author shows that, while in Lebanon the state has facilitated the development of an extensive and effective system of Armenian ethno-cultural preservation, in Syria the emergence of centralizing, authoritarian regimes in the 1950s and 1960s has severely damaged the autonomy and cultural diversity of the Armenian community. Since 1970, the coming to power of the Asad family has contributed to a partial recovery of Armenian ethno-cultural diversity, as the community seems to have developed some form of tacit arrangement with the regime. In Lebanon, on the other hand, the Armenian community suffered the consequences of the recurrent breakdown of the consociational arrangement that regulates public life. In both cases the survival of Armenian cultural distinctiveness seems to be connected, rather incidentally, with the continuing 'search for legitimacy' of the state.

"On December 7, 1988, the northwest region of Soviet Armenia, including Leninakan, the republic's second largest city, was devastated by an earthquake which left tens of thousands dead and forced the central government, for the first time in Soviet history, to call for international assistance." "Armenia in Crisis documents the tragic Armenian earthquake and the surrounding political controversies that rocked the Soviet Union and contributed to its collapse. In sparse and gripping prose, Pierre Verluise, a French journalist and Soviet specialist, uses the accounts of survivors and relief workers to tell the story of this catastrophe in its human and political dimensions. Relying on personal interviews and press reports, he recounts the destruction and despair, the emotional reactions of survivors and relief workers, the political struggles between Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and the Armenians, and the shortcomings in Soviet construction methods and disaster preparedness." "The new epilogue by translator Levon Chorbajian completes Verluise's story of human loss and high political drama, with updates of Armenia's independence, the Soviet Union's demise, and the still uncompleted task of earthquake reconstruction."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Interventions on behalf of Armenia and Armenians have come to be identified by scholars and practitioners alike as defining moments in the history of humanitarianism. This volume reassesses these claims, critically examining a range of interventions by governments, international and diasporic organizations, and individuals that aimed to ‘save Armenians’. Drawing on perspectives from a range of disciplines, the chapters trace the evolution of these interventions from the late-nineteenth to the present day, paying particular attention to the aftermaths of the genocide and the upheavals of the post-Soviet period. Geographically, the contributions connect diverse spaces and places – the Caucasus, Russia, the Middle East, Europe, North America, South America, and Australia – revealing shifting transnational networks of aid and intervention. These chapters are followed by reflections from leading scholars in the fields of refugee history and Armenian history, Peter Gatrell and Ronald Grigor Suny. Aid to Armenia not only offers an innovative exploration into the history of Armenia and Armenians and the history of humanitarianism, but it provides a platform for practitioners to think critically about contemporary humanitarian questions facing Armenia, the South Caucasus region and the wider Armenian diaspora.

"In Black Garden, Thomas de Waal tells the full story of this tragic quarrel and its aftermath for the first time. He travels the length and breadth of Armenia and Azerbaijan, talking to veterans, refugees and the inhabitants of ruined towns and villages. He recreates the story of the descent into conflict of two former Soviet neighbors, its disastrous consequences and the confused efforts of the "Great Powers" - Russia, France and the United states - to bring peace to the Caucasus."--BOOK JACKET.

David G. Lewis explores Russia's political system under Putin by unpacking the ideological paradigm that underpins it. He investigates the Russian understanding of key concepts such as sovereignty, democracy and political community. Through the dissection of a series of case studies - including Russia's legal system, the annexation of Crimea, and Russian policy in Syria - Lewis explains why these ideas matter in Russian domestic and foreign policy.

The best country-by-country assessment of human rights. The human rights records of more than ninety countries and territories are put into perspective in Human Rights Watch's signature yearly report. Reflecting extensive investigative work undertaken by Human Rights Watch staff, in close partnership with domestic human rights activists, the annual World Report is an invaluable resource for journalists, diplomats, and citizens, and is a must-read for anyone interested in the fight to protect human rights in every corner of the globe.

This book frames the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in the context of European and international security. It is the first book to focus on the politics of the conflict rather than the dispute itself. Since their emergence twenty years ago, this and other “frozen conflicts” of Eurasia have been affected by transformations in European security, and many ways absorbed into an ever fiercer geopolitical struggle for influence. The wars in Georgia and Ukraine brought greater attention to some unresolved conflicts, but not to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. As the contributors to this volume argue, the conflict merits much greater European attention, for several reasons: it is on a path of escalation, existing mediation regimes are dysfunctional, and as both Georgia and Ukraine have showed, any outbreak of serious fighting will force the EU to respond. This book thus explains the interlocking interests of Russia, Turkey, Iran, the EU and United States in the conflict, and analyzes the negotiation process and the conflict’s international legal aspects.

Published in association with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The book examines all relevant models which have been employed in settling ethno-territorial conflicts since the time of the League of Nations. Eight of these models have been studied in-depth. The aim of this analysis is to gain expertise and insights that could prove relevant to resolving the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. This potential is evaluated in the closing chapters of the volume where novel ideas on how to apply the lessons of these cases to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh are presented. This conflict carries many features typical of ethno-territorial conflicts in present and past times: it is neither unique, nor does its settlement depend on others than the parties to the conflict. Rather it is – as in all other cases – entrenched historical narratives and enemy images which lead to zero-sum calculations and can conceivably only be overcome in a gradual process. Content Part I Nagorno-Karabakh and ethno-territorial conflict settlement Part II Case studies of ethno-territorial conflict settlement: Åland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, South Tyrol, Trieste, Cyprus, Northern Ireland, Quebec. Part III Results and conclusions: A way out for Nagorno-Karabakh The Editors Dr Azer Babayev​ is Assistant Professor of Political Science at ADA University, Baku. Dr Bruno Schoch is Associated Researcher at PRIF (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt), Frankfurt/Main. Dr Hans-Joachim Spanger is Head of the Dissemination Division at PRIF (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt), Frankfurt/Main.