Category: Azerbaijan

RUCARR Seminar, April 23, 15:15-17:00: Civil society in the South Caucasus: Resource dependencies, organizational behaviors and shifting environments

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Civil society in the South Caucasus: Resource dependencies, organizational behaviors and shifting environments

When? April 23rd, 15:15-17:00

Where? On Zoom: https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/69994454484

Abstract: Civil society developments in the Eurasia region have been under scholarly scrutiny since the early 1990s, particularly due to their presumed actorness in political and societal transitions. In the meantime, a growing number of challenges, including limited trust and participation, lingering legitimacy, agency and accountability issues, external aid dependence, precarious professionalization, and governments’ increased regulative and political assaults, have faced civil society organizations (CSOs). This talk will draw on research into cases of the South Caucasus countries – Azerbaijan and Georgia – from neo-institutional and resource dependence perspectives. The Azerbaijani case will highlight the transformation of organizational behaviors of CSOs in the wake of government-imposed restrictions over the past decade, focusing on the trend of de-NGOization under entrenched authoritarianism. The Georgian case will discuss the effects of foreign funding on self-regulation in civil society, focusing on agency and accountability practices against the background of government allegations and legislative proposals deeming CSOs as “foreign agents.”

Bio: Najmin Kamilsoy is a doctoral candidate at Charles University Department of Public and Social Policy, where he received a master’s degree in 2019. His current research area is civil society development and organizational behaviors in non-democracies, with a regional and comparative focus on the South Caucasus. Kamilsoy is a co-founder and policy analyst of Agora Analytical Collective, a think tank that has been dealing with the analysis of social and economic policies in Azerbaijan since 2022. He held a visiting Ph.D. fellowship at the University of Zurich in 2021 and he is an upcoming research fellow at Friedrich Schiller University Jena.

Visit from the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul

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Roundtable at Malmö University on the topic of “The Caucasus between Turkey and Russia” at the annual meeting of the Research Collegium of the Swedish Research Institute , Istanbul (https://srii.org/), hosted by RUCARR.

Presenters: PhD Candidate Michel Anderlini, Dr George Mchedlishvili, Dr Natia Gamkrelidze, Dr Kamal Makili-Aliyev, Prof. Karina Vamling. Moderator: Prof. Bo Petersson.

RUCARR reseachers & colleagues on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

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Watch roundtable webinar: Nagorno-Karabakh: from status quo towards final resolution? (archive)

Webinar December 8, 2020. https://rucarr.mau.se/live-video/

Prof. Gerard Jirair Libaridian, professor (emeritus) of history at the University of Michigan, former advisor to the first President of the Republic of Armenia on foreign and security policies. (photo)

Dr. Philip Gamaghelyan, assistant professor at the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego.

Dr. Kamal Makili-Aliyev, senior lecturer at the Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University, affiliated researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.

Mr. Zaur Shiriyev, International Crisis Group’s Analyst for South Caucasus, former Academy Associate with the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House.

Modertor:  Dr. Julie A. George, associate professor at the Graduate Center / Queen’s College, City University of New York.

Selected publications

Magnusson, Märta-Lisa and Karina Vamling. (2023). Ryssland mot Turkiet i Nagorno-Karabach. Forskning & Framsteg. https://fof.se/artikel/ryssland-mot-turkiet-i-nagorno-karabach/

Magnusson, Märta-Lisa and Karina Vamling. (2023). Ryssland förlorar inflytande till förmån för Turkiet. Sydsvenskan (2022-02-24) (link)

Magnusson, Märta-Lisa (2010).  “Why No Settlement in the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict? – Which are the obstacles to a negotiated solution?”  In: Vamling, K. (ed): Language, History and Cultural Identities in the Caucasus : papers from the conference, June 17-19 2005, Malmö University, 2010, pp. 114-143  (link)

Magnusson, Märta-Lisa:. (2008). “Nagorno-Karabakh – de facto stat på spring?” Fra nation til stat: Er Kosovo undtagelsen? Udenrigs, nr. 1, 2008 (link)

Magnusson, Märta-Lisa (2003). Karabakh- den besvärlige brik i de stores spil. I: Ib Faurby og Märta-Lisa Magnusson (Red): Korsvej og minefelt.  Kultur og konflikt i Kaukasus. Århus: Systime Academic, sid. 166-213.

Makili-Aliyev, Kamal (2020). Contested Territories and International Law. A comparative study of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Aland Islands precedent. Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge

Makili-Aliyev, Kamal (2021). The Role of Azerbaijan in the Non-Aligned Movement Through the Lens of International Law and Security. In: The 60th Anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement. :359-370; Institute of International Politics and Economics (link)

Theisen, Søren (2021). A little trip down memory lane. REjser i Armenien kring tiden omkring Sovjetunionens opløsning I: Magnusson, ML & K. Vamling (eds.) Vi såg sammanbrottet. Svenska och danska forskares berättelser från Kaukasus under Sovjetväldets sista år. Caucasus Studies 8. 95-108. https://ojs.mau.se/index.php/caucasus/issue/view/117/27

 

 

Cause without Rebels? Rise and Fall of the Talish-Mughan Republic in South-Eastern Azerbaijan – Seminar May 23

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Christofer Berglund, Associate Professor, Dept. of Global Political Studies, Malmö University and Karli Storm, Karelian Institute & Centre for Russian and Border Studies, University of Eastern Finland: Cause without Rebels? Rise and Fall of the Talish-Mughan Republic in South-Eastern Azerbaijan.

When: May 23, 15.15-17.00 CET

Where: Zoom link https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/62439537993

Abstract

The summer of 1993 was a particularly turbulent time for newly independent post-Soviet Azerbaijan. It was during this brief period that the Talysh-Mughan (Autonomous) Republic was briefly established before being swiftly and brutally crushed beneath the heel of Heydar Aliyev. This paper examines the key reasons for the Republic’s failure as well as the circumstances surrounding the undermining of its key figures. The authors make use of the case of the Talysh-Mughan Republic to illustrate both the merits and shortcomings of several prominent theories in the realm of state secession that seek to explain the successes and failures of break-away states in the contemporary international arena.

 

Seminar on The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict in the Soviet and Russian Press with Dr. Artyom Tonoyan, November 1

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Seminar on The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict in the Soviet and Russian Press with Dr. Artyom Tonoyan, November 1st 

When: November 1st, 15:15-17:00

Where?: Zoom-link: https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/63095278918

Black Garden Aflame: The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict in the Soviet and Russian Press

For a few brief weeks in fall 2020, Western media buzzed with news of the intense war in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). The conflict had been “frozen” since 1994, so the new outbreak of violence caught many journalists unawares.

By contrast, this conflict has been a mainstay in the Soviet, then Russian press. The sheer volume of published material—including eyewitness accounts, interviews with notable figures, and incisive, well-researched analyses—far exceeds anything produced by Western media.

Moscow’s knowledge of the region is as strong as it is permanent, dictated mainly by geopolitical interests. The collection of articles in the book—carefully translated, edited, and culled from a vast repository of Russian-language press curated by Artyom Tonoyan—presents in book form for the first time in English some of the most important material that has appeared from 1988 to the present.

BIO
A native of Gyumri, Armenia, Dr. Artyom Tonoyan is a sociologist and Visiting Professor of Global Studies at Hamline University, in St. Paul, Minnesota. His research interests include sociology of religion, religion and politics in the South Caucasus, and religion and nationalism in post-Soviet Russia. His articles have appeared in Demokratizatsiva: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, Society, and Modern Greek Studies Yearbook, among others. He has been a frequent guest on the BBC, Deutsche Welle, France 24, and other outlets. He is currently working on a book charting the social,historical, and religious backgrounds of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He received his Ph.D. from Baylor University.

 

 

 

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Seminar on China’s policy towards the countries of South Caucasus with Dr. David Aptsiauri, Nov 15

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Specifics of China’s policy towards the countries of South Caucasus during continuing global crisis

Welcome to the RUCARR seminar on November 15 with Dr. David Aptsiauri, who has served many years as Georgia’s Ambassador to China, Mongolia and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Where: Zoom seminar,  Link: https://mau-se.zoom.us/s/64464981144

When: 1.15–3.00 pm Malmö CET (04.15–6.00 pm Tbilisi), November 15

Abstract

The presentation will be based on consideration of the current trends in development of cooperation between China and countries of South Caucasus, its influence on the region’s economic growth and security environment, particularly in the context of continuing pandemic crisis and war in Ukraine. The cooperation of the countries of South Caucasus in the frame of Chinese ,“Belt and Road Initiative” presents an important part of the analysis. The role of global and regional players in politics and economics of South Caucasus should enrich the knowledge of the updated situation in the region.

Bio

Ambassador David Aptsiauri, Dr. in International Economics, currently takes a position of General Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Georgia, earlier worked as Senior Fellow at the Levan Mikeladze Training and Research Diplomatic Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. He is a career diplomat with almost 30 years of professional experience in diplomacy, that started in the United States in early 90s, where he was sent among the first group of Georgian diplomats to the newly established Embassy of Georgia to the United States and Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. During 2000-2004, Dr. Aptsiauri served as Deputy Minister, and later as First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. In 2014-2018, he served as Ambassador of Georgia to the People`s Republic of China, Mongolia and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Prior to that, he was appointed as Ambassador of Georgia to the Republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (2004-2007), Republic of Lithuania (2007-2008). 

In parallel with his diplomatic background Ambassador D. Aptsiauri has been actively involved in academic and research activities in the field of international economic relations as Visiting Professor and Senior Scholar in Georgia and abroad, he is the author of a wide range of publications on international economic relations. Currently he is a Senior Researcher at Tbilisi State University, runs the Center of the Black Sea Regional Development problems at the Georgian Technical University, is appointed as Member of the Board of the Georgian analythic Center “Geocase” and, as visiting professor, delivers lectures at Tbilisi State University, Beijing University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) and Astana International University (AIU), Kazakhstan. In 1994-2000, Ambassador Aptsiauri conducted academic and research activities in the United States, including lecturing and key presentations at Columbia University, University of Florida, the New York Bar Association. During 2004-2013 Dr. Aptsiauri also delivered lectures and ran training courses in educational and research organizations of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Sweden, Belgium, Greece, China, Baltic and other countries. In 2019 he was invited by the Azerbaijani Diplomatic Academy, (ADA-University) to conduct training program for senior diplomatic personnel on economic diplomacy. In addition, he has participated in numerous high level workshops, seminars and training courses / including the statements before Special Sessions of the United Nations General Assembly/ in Europe, the United States of America, Asia, Latin America, covering the crucial topics of international security and economic cooperation, conflict resolution and sustainable development, problems of children, regional and interregional collaboration, in particular the East-West dimension.

Seminar with Dr. Kamal Aliyev, February 1

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The role of Azerbaijan in the Non-Aligned Movement through the lens of international law and security

Welcome to the Spring semester’s first seminar with Kamal Makili-Aliyev, LL.D. Senior Lecturer at the Dept. of Global Political Studies, Malmö University: The role of Azerbaijan in the non-aligned movement through the lens of international law and security.

When: February 1, 3.15-17.00
Zoom: sign-up here for zoom link

Abstract

This research paper is an attempt to explain the role of Azerbaijan in the Non-Aligned Movement through a rarely used perspective or lens of international law and international security. In a scholarly discourse on Azerbaijan’s ascension to the full membership in the Non-Aligned Movement, there are two distinct camps that argue either from the perspective of the non-relevance of the Non-Aligned Movement in the contemporary international community and subsequent low significance of Azerbaijan’s move or from the perspective of the theory of international relations and present it as a foreign policy adjustment or a continued strategy. This study departs from the continued (albeit adjusted) relevance of the Non-Aligned Movement as a subject of international law and seeks to complement the existing theories proposed by the international relations scholars with an alternative view based on Azerbaijan’s paradigmatic perceptions of international law and international security. By taking an alternative viewpoint, this paper utilizes a multidisciplinary angle to tackle so far only narrowly researched topic.
 
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New publications by Dr Kamal Makili-Aliyev

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RUCARR researcher Dr Kamal Makili-Aliyev has recenly publised two new articles:

  • ‘The Perspective of Post-Soviet States on the Burqa Ban. A Study of the Delegalization of Religious Headwear in Post-Soviet States’, in Matwijkiw A. and Oriolo A. eds., Law, Cultural Studies and the Burqa Ban, Cambridge: Intersentia, 2021, pp. 329-348. (ISBN 978-1-83970-058-3) <https://bit.ly/3DgGffy> 
  • ‘The Role of Azerbaijan in the Non-Aligned Movement Through the Lens of International Law and Security’, in Dimitrijević D. and Čavoški J. eds., The 60th Anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement, Belgrade: Institute of International Politics and Economics, 2021, pp. 359-370. (ISBN 978-86-7067-283-3) <https://doi.org/10.18485/iipe_60nam.2021.ch20>

Nagorno-Karabakh: from status quo towards final resolution?

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RUCARR Zoom-webinar — Nagorno-Karabakh: from status quo towards final resolution?

RUCARR is inviting to the Zoom-webinar taking place on December 8th at 18:00 (CET) / 12 pm (EST) / 9 am (PST). The webinar is dedicated to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Sign-up link

During autumn months of 2020, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict went into the most violent phase since 1994. Hostilities once again erupted in the region following the mediation efforts of various intensity that have lasted for almost three decades and have yet proven unsuccessful. Armenia and Azerbaijan were able to reach a new cease-fire agreement through the unilateral mediation of Russia, that resulted in inter alia return of most of the contested territories under the control of Azerbaijan, entrance of the Russian peacekeeping force into the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, establishment of peacekeeping operation for five years with the possibility of subsequent prolongation and obligations to reopen regional communications between Armenia and Azerbaijan and most likely (implicitly) Turkey. The agreement, however, is not a comprehensive peace treaty and the conflict’s key issues (not least the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh) remain unresolved.

The webinar’s eminent panel will consist of four distinguished experts in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with various backgrounds. It will be moderated by Dr. Julie A. George, associate professor at the Graduate Center / Queen’s College, City University of New York.

On the panel we will have:

Prof. Gerard Jirair Libaridian, professor (emeritus) of history at the University of Michigan, former advisor to the first President of the Republic of Armenia on foreign and security policies.

Dr. Philip Gamaghelyan, assistant professor at the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego.

Dr. Kamal Makili-Aliyev, senior lecturer at the Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University, affiliated researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.

Mr. Zaur Shiriyev, International Crisis Group’s Analyst for South Caucasus, former Academy Associate with the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House.

During the webinar our panel will discuss the changes in the long-standing status quo: what would this mean for the future developments in Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the region of South Caucasus.