The Right to Self-Determination in the South Caucasus: Nagorno Karabakh in Context, by Bahruz Balayev, is a unique tool for scholars, researchers and public on understanding South Caucasus regional conflicts from the New Heaven School perspective. Balayev explores important subjects in the South Caucasus region, including Soviet self-determination psychology and laws, ideas of consociational democracy, and the right to self-determination in general.

The Right to Self-Determination in the South Caucasus: Nagorno Karabakh in Context, by Bahruz Balayev, explores the relationship in international law between the concept of self-determination and territorial integrity in the context of the Caucasus region. This study brings together the various self-determination movements of the Caucasus (Nagorno Karabakh, South Ossetia, Adjara, Abkhazia, and Chechnya) and provides a comparative analysis. The August 2008 war in Georgia and the proclamation of independence of Kosovo renewed the discussion over the right to self-determination in international law: Has the right to self-determination evolved since the solutions to the conflicts over self-determination are now determined in a new manner, or should it? Will the question of self-determination in different regions of the world be a spark for a new cold war? Unilateral declarations and the recognition of independence of South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Kosovo could be the first spark. These are the pressing questions because there are many self-determination and secession movements all over the world. The Right to Self-Determination in the South Caucasus is a unique tool for scholars, researchers, and the public in understanding South Caucasus regional conflicts from the New Haven School perspective.

This book delves into the connections between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the countries of the southern Caucasus region following the 1979 revolution. It focuses on their political, economic, and cultural interactions and elaborates on Iran's foreign policy principles, discourses, and significant decision-making institutions. It also addresses the process of nation-state building in the southern Caucasus, the challenges involved, and the geopolitical and strategic importance of this area for Iran. Factors influencing the relations are scrutinised, alongside an evaluation of the proposed accession of the Republic of Azerbaijan into Iran, based on insights from Hashemi Rafsanjani's diary. The work further investigates the legal framework of the Caspian Sea and Aras River, examines the strategic implications of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for Iran and other relevant actors, and analyses the repercussions of the Ukraine war on transportation routes. This book will help researchers of the Middle East and the Caucasus better understand Iran's relations with the region.

The conflicts in the South Caucasus are now a decade old, but still appear impervious to solution. The hopes that independence raised have been dashed by an insidious cocktail of past and present regional hegemony, historical antipathy and Soviet planning. Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, thus, continue to wait for their long awaited Spring. In a region where Western academic writing has focussed, during the last decade, almost exclusively on the dynamics of regional security and Great Power rivalry, even in the context of conflict, this volume provides an important and necessary legal appraisal of the possible processes and structures which may, ultimately, facilitate the finding of constitutional settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In the work, Tim Potier, an academic lawyer with much experience in the Caucasus, has written a powerful but dispassionate account which will prove not only to be of use to academics, diplomats and government officials working in the region, but also be of lasting value to the ongoing development of the international law on self-determination and autonomy. Dr Potier also considers the fate of what he prefers to term, `regionally non-dominant titular peoples'.

This book examines the underlying factors of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the South Caucasus from 1905 to 1994, and explores the ways in which issues of ethnicity and nationalism contributed to that conflict. The author examines the historiography and politics of the conflict, and the historical, territorial and ethnic dimensions which contributed to the dynamics of the war. The impact of Soviet policies and structures are also included, pinpointing how they contributed to the development of nationalism and the maintenance of national identities. The book firstly explores the historical development of the Armenian and Azerbaijani national identities and the overlapping claims to the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The author goes on to assess the historical link between ethnicity and territorial location as sources of ethnic identification and conflict. He examines how identity differences shaped the relationsa between Armenians and Azerbaijanis during the different phases of conflict and presents a detailed historical account of Soviet nationalities policy and ethno-territorial federalism - the basis of which ethnic relations were conducted between governing and minority nations in the south Caucasus. This invaluable book offers students and scholars of post-Soviet politics and society a unique insight into the causes and consequences of this long-standing conflict.

This new edition of The Caucasus is a thorough update of an essential guide that has introduced thousands of readers to a complex region. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and the break-away territories that have tried to split away from them constitute one of the most diverse and challenging regions on earth, impressing the visitor with their multi-layered history and ethnic complexity. Over the last few years, the South Caucasus region has captured international attention again because of disputes between the West and Russia, its unresolved conflicts, and its role as an energy transport corridor to Europe. The Caucasus gives the reader a historical overview and an authoritative guide to the three conflicts that have blighted the region. Thomas de Waal tells the story of the "Five-Day War" between Georgia and Russia and recent political upheavals in all three countries. He also finds time to tell the reader about Georgian wine, Baku jazz and how the coast of Abkhazia was known as "Soviet Florida." Short, stimulating and rich in detail, The Caucasus is the perfect guide to this fascinating and little-understood region.

This book explores developments in the countries of the South Caucasus – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia – since the EU included the region in the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2003. It considers issues related to energy, ethnic conflict, steps towards regional integration, and, above all, security – including the involvement of Russia, Iran, Turkey and the United States. It assesses the key importance of energy, argues that the prospects for regional integration are weak, and contends that while the approach of Europe and the United States has been confused and weak, not holding out great hope of EU or NATO membership, Russia’s interest and involvement in the region is strong, and growing.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union the Caucasus was wracked by ethnic and separatist violence as the peoples of the region struggled for self-determination. Vicken Cheterian, who spent many years as a reporter and analyst covering the region's conflicts, asks why nationalism emerged as a dominant political current, and why, of the many nationalist movements that emerged, some led to violence while others did not. He explains also why minority rebellions were victorious against larger armies, in mountainous Karabakh, Abkhazia, and in the first war of Chechnya, and discusses the ongoing instability and armed resistance in the North Caucasus. He concludes his book by examining chapters the great power competition between Russia, the US, and the EU over the oil and gas resources of the Caspian region.

Published in association with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.