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From “frozen conflict” to enduring rivalry: reassessing the Nagorny Karabakh conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Laurence Broers
Laurence Broers*
Affiliation:
Centre for the Contemporary Central Asia and Caucasus, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, UK
*
* Email: laurencebroers@gmail.com
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Abstract

This article draws on international relations theory to attempt a reframing of the Armenian–Azerbaijani conflict in Nagorny Karabakh as an enduring rivalry (ER): a particular kind of interstate conflict known for its longevity and stability. The article begins by identifying a number of conceptual deficits circulating around this conflict, notably the notion that it is a “frozen conflict,” before introducing the ER framework and its analytical dividends for this case. Different layers of the ER between Armenia and Azerbaijan are then explored at systemic, interstate, domestic, decision-maker, and temporal levels, with a view more toward identifying directions for future research than conclusive findings. Among the article's tentative conclusions are the primacy of endogenous over exogenous factors in explaining the durability of the rivalry between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the impacts of the passage of time on the human and physical geography of the territory under dispute, and the convergence of conflict dynamics across disparate levels.

Keywords

territorial conflictenduring rivalryArmeniaAzerbaijanKarabakh
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 43 , Issue 4 , July 2015 , pp. 556 - 576
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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