South Caucasus

Exploring the definition of kleptocracy, the motivations behind it, why it flourishes in certain societies, and its global impact.

Experts explain how key sectors in Georgia can work together to counter disinformation tactics.

Europe’s great song competition may strive for continental harmony, but bitter conflicts and voting blocs often drag it off key, writes Saskia Postema.

The attitude of Russia’s elite – and wider population – to the states which used to constitute the USSR needs to change in order to solve the Russia challenge.

Turkey benefits from NATO’s Strategic Concept and is in a celebratory mood over a new deal with Sweden and Finland. But interpretation is the key to success.

Exploring the definition of kleptocracy, the motivations behind it, why it flourishes in certain societies, and its global impact.

The Ukraine invasion has detrimental consequences for the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, a project which has been stumbling since its inception.

The Ukraine invasion offers the opportunity and cover for Azerbaijan to test Russia’s peacekeeping mission deployed in contested Nagorny Karabakh.

Experts explain how key sectors in Georgia can work together to counter disinformation tactics.

Turkmenistan’s transition ushers in a new hybrid model of governance, but its entrenched authoritarian system and all-pervasive kleptocracy is unlikely to change.

The Ukraine invasion has led Georgia to fast-track its EU membership application, but Tbilisi now urgently needs to tackle Russian disinformation tactics.

Since a ceasefire brought the 2020 Karabakh war to an end, peace initiatives have won only rhetorical support while the reasons driving conflict multiply.

Many Russia watchers recall the fleeting moment 20 years ago when the country could have moved away from a path of confrontation with the US.

Despite 2020’s military defeat, Armenia’s fragile institutions are the real winner of Sunday’s poll, but now face the challenge of dominant power politics.

Through a series of territorial encroachments Azerbaijan is applying maximum pressure in advance of a formal demarcation of its border with Armenia.

The trilateral Armenian-Azerbaijani-Russian agreement may succeed in finally ending the war, but it does not resolve issues at the core of the conflict.

Geopolitics dominates perspectives on the Armenia-Azerbaijan war, but a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding, aggravated by COVID-19 and the onset of winter.

Whether a ceasefire is possible in a new Armenian-Azerbaijani war and talks can meaningfully resume depends on an elusive international commitment to a long-neglected conflict.

Deadly clashes at the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan have followed renewed disappointment in the peace process, and cast a new shadow over its future.

Hopes the two countries would find ways to reinvigorate long-stagnant negotiations have faltered, despite the sustained reduction in violations of the Nagorny Karabakh ceasefire.

Coronavirus caught the three South Caucasus states at varying levels of preparedness, and their differing responses will cause development trajectories to diverge even further.

This episode explores how the World Health Organisation responded to early warnings of the coronavirus pandemic, and how Georgian politician Mikheil Saakashvili revived his career in Ukraine.

Building on the legacies of a long-term British investment in a peace strategy for the South Caucasus is a realistic and attainable goal.

In societies struggling to democratize, social uprisings are an opportunity for new political elites. This paper examines factors for political renewal.

Positive steps towards Armenian-Azerbaijani peace do not compensate for the weaknesses of a largely de-institutionalized, top-down process.

Rustam Anshba on a breakaway state whose people are trapped

This paper reviews the evolution of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy with regard to Russia and the West, looks at the diplomatic imperatives surrounding the Nagorny Karabakh conflict in more detail, and sets out recommendations for how to mitigate risks for Azerbaijan’s relations with Russia.

This paper explores the evolution of the dilemmas in Armenia’s foreign policy since the 1990s. Its primary aim is to offer an informed background for further discussions, beyond the conventional and stereotypical views that dominate policy thinking on this issue in the West as well as in Armenia.

De-escalatory measures and new faces are shaking up the moribund peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But to make good on their pledges, the parties will need to reform their political strategies too.

The country has elected the region’s first female head of state, but the result is not as progressive as it appears.

In its latest ‘peace initiative’, the Georgian government has failed to engage with important political questions that cannot be sidestepped.

Two years ago, Armenia and Azerbaijan came close to the brink of all-out war. Now political changes in Armenia have created a new opening – and new challenges for all parties.