Until the arrival of the Russian Empire in the early nineteenth century, the South Caucasus was traditionally contested by two Muslim empires, the Ottomans and the Persians. Over the following two ...centuries, Orthodox Christian Russia – and later the officially atheist Soviet Union – expanded into the densely populated Muslim towns and villages and began a long process of resettlement, deportation, and interventionist population management in an attempt to incorporate the region into its own lands and culture. Exploring the policies and implementations of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, Resettling the Borderlands investigates the nexus between imperial practices, foreign policy, religion, and ethnic conflicts. Taking a comparative approach, Farid Shafiyev looks at the most active phases of resettlement, when the state imported and relocated waves of German, Russian sectarian, and Armenian settlers into the South Caucasus and deported thousands of others. He also offers insights on the complexities of empire-building and managing space and people in the Muslim borderlands to reveal the impact of demographic changes on the Armenian–Azerbaijani conflict. Combining in-depth and original analysis of archival material with a clear and accessible narrative, Resettling the Borderlands provides a new interpretation of the colonial policies, ideologies, and strategic visions in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.Until the arrival of the Russian Empire in the early nineteenth century, the South Caucasus was traditionally contested by two Muslim empires, the Ottomans and the Persians. Over the following two centuries, Orthodox Christian Russia – and later the officially atheist Soviet Union – expanded into the densely populated Muslim towns and villages and began a long process of resettlement, deportation, and interventionist population management in an attempt to incorporate the region into its own lands and culture. Exploring the policies and implementations of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, Resettling the Borderlands investigates the nexus between imperial practices, foreign policy, religion, and ethnic conflicts. Taking a comparative approach, Farid Shafiyev looks at the most active phases of resettlement, when the state imported and relocated waves of German, Russian sectarian, and Armenian settlers into the South Caucasus and deported thousands of others. He also offers insights on the complexities of empire-building and managing space and people in the Muslim borderlands to reveal the impact of demographic changes on the Armenian–Azerbaijani conflict. Combining in-depth and original analysis of archival material with a clear and accessible narrative, Resettling the Borderlands provides a new interpretation of the colonial policies, ideologies, and strategic visions in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.
This collection surveys the three South Caucasian states’ economic, social and political evolution since their independence in 1991. It assesses their successes and failures in these areas, including ...their attempts to build new national identities and value systems to replace Soviet-era structures. It explains the interplay of domestic and international factors that have affected their performance and influenced the balance of their successes and shortcomings. It focuses on the policies pursued by key regional and international actors towards the region and assesses the effects of regional and international rivalries on these states’ development, as well as on the prospects for regional cooperation and conflict resolution. Finally, it analyzes a number regional and international developments which could affect the future trajectory of these states’ evolution.
The South Caucasus in a Reconnecting Eurasia examines the full scope of South Caucasus-Eurasia relations and analyzes the broad outlines of U.S. engagement over the coming years.
Using U.S. archival documents as well as insights gained from Israeli historians who made excellent use of Soviet sources, this article examines the diplomacy and military developments that occurred ...late in the Egyptian-Israeli War of Attrition. Understanding that Moscow was pursuing a more forward policy than Washington officials understood at the time, it becomes clear that Soviet military intervention began earlier than American and Israeli decision-makers then recognized or than historians have understood until recently. Likewise, the operational deployment of Russian air defense forces and fighter pilots challenged Israeli air superiority in the skies over the Suez Canal, which separated Egyptian and Israeli troops. While American diplomats were willing to help the Israelis with equipment and countermeasures to deal with the new threat, they put enormous pressure on Jerusalem not only to accept the ceasefire that ended the conflict but also to not respond militarily to Egyptian violations of the agreement. Thus, Israel found itself in a fundamentally more vulnerable position when the shooting stopped in August 1970.
Ethnic conflict has been the driving force of wars all over the world, yet it remains an enigma. What is it about ethnicity that breaks countries apart and drives people to acts of savage violence ...against their lifelong neighbors? Stuart Kaufman rejects the notion of permanent "ancient hatreds" as the answer. Dissatisfied as well with a purely rationalist explanation, he finds the roots of ethnic violence in myths and symbols, the stories ethnic groups tell about who they are.
Ethnic wars, Kaufman argues, result from the politics of these myths and symbols-appeals to flags and faded glories that aim to stir emotions rather than to address interests. Popular hostility based on these myths impels groups to follow extremist leaders invoking such emotion-laden ethnic symbols. If ethnic domination becomes their goal, ethnic war is the likely result. Kaufman examines contemporary ethnic wars in the Caucasus and southeastern Europe.
Drawing on information from a variety of sources, including visits to the regions and dozens of personal interviews, he demonstrates that diplomacy and economic incentives are not enough to prevent or end ethnic wars. The key to real conflict resolution is peacebuilding-the often-overlooked effort by nongovernmental organizations to change hostile attitudes at both the elite and the grassroots levels.
This book is the first in English to examine irregular migration from post-Soviet states, focusing in particular on migration to the United States. Due to globalization and the end of the Cold War, ...citizens of the former Soviet Union are on the move as never before. The political, economic, and social changes that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in widespread poverty and unemployment and also created a large pool of potential migrants. Thousands of individuals from poor post-Soviet countries migrate to the West in search of better-paid work in an effort to provide for themselves and their families both through legal channels, and in their absence, illegally. In recent years immigration has become a topic of heated debate in many Western countries: the estimated number of undocumented immigrants in the United States has reached 11 million, precipitating a new legislative focus on reforming the immigration system, culminating in the highly controversial Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act passed by the House of Representatives in 2005 but eventually "killed" in the Senate. This book examines all these issues, discussing the reasons for migration, the profile of the migrants, how the process of migration works and how the migrants obtain their U.S. visas, where they work once in the United States and their intentions with regards to their possible return home. This book explores the reality of post-Soviet migration where the mostly well-educated former professionals end up in low-wage unskilled jobs as domestic workers, child care givers, and construction workers, sometimes in exploitative labor situations. Overall, this book provides a detailed account of post-Soviet illegal migration to the United States, focusing in particular on Central Asian and Georgian migrants, and will be of interest to scholars of US politics as well as Russia, Central Asia,and the Caucasus specialists.
1: Introduction 2: Kyrgyzstan Within A Central Asian Perspective: Historical Background And Migration Trends 3: Migration Policies In The United States And In Kyrgyzstan 4: Leaving The Homeland 5: In The Golden Land 6: Conclusion
Saltanat Liebert is Assistant Professor at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA. She has worked for the International Organization for Migration, the World Bank, and the United Nations in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Austria and the United States.
The work provides a clear and yet a thought provoking understanding of the dynamics and challenges of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It aims to raise awareness of the important opportunities and ...risks which the region faces and represents. However, this book is not only about Central Asia and the Caucasus and its role in Eurasia, it is also written for readers in that region. The book consists of papers that originally served as background documents for a conference of experts and leaders from the region. The goal of the conference was to find practical ways to enhance sustainable growth and welfare in Central Asia.
The Southern Caucasus is a region of great historical, cultural and strategic importance, which means that it has become an indispensable research field for most of the social sciences, particularly ...archaeology. However, despite its rich potential, research in the areas of modern-day Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan, North-western Iran and North-eastern Turkey has been inadequate when compared with other important culture basins such as Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. In October 2012, Atatürk University in Erzurum, North-eastern Anatolia, Turkey, with the patronage of the Eurasian Silk Road Universities Consortium (ESRUC), hosted a Symposium of academics from more than 120 science and education institutions around the world to discuss opinions and share information about cultures in this region from its earliest times to the Middle Ages, within the scope of Ancient History, Archaeology, Art History, and Ethno-archaeology. This two volume publication is a compilation of 75 articles, which were evaluated and selected by an Academic Committee, from contributors who presented their academic papers at the Symposium.
Kraj Hladnog rata i dezintegracija Sovjetskog saveza uzrokovali su radikalne promjene u cjelokupnoj međunarodnoj zajednici. Takvo stanje otvorilo je i nove mogućnosti za Europsku Uniju u smislu ...potrebe redefiniranja vanjske politike prema Istočnoj Europi i Južnom Kavkazu. Ovaj rad prikazat će razvoj bilateralnih odnosa Europske unije s državama Južnog Kavkaza (Armenija, Azerbajdžan i Gruzija) kroz Sporazume o partnerstvu i suradnji, Europsku susjedsku politiku i Istočno partnerstvo. Cilj je ukazati na stratešku važnost Južnog Kavkaza za EU i izložiti ključne probleme s kojima se skupina bivših sovjetskih republika susreće od početaka svoje nezavisnosti. U želji da uspješno izbalansiraju vlastite nacionalne i političke interese, povijesne veze i tradiciju, ali i pritiske izvana, vanjskopolitička orijentacija južno kavkaskih zemalja vrti se u krugu između Rusije i Europske unije. Pritom, između njih samih postoje brojni problemi - nedostatak bilateralne i regionalne suradnje, te zaleđeni etnički problemi koji u svakom trenutku mogu prerasti u otvorene sukobe. Cilj je pokazati kako Europska unija, od raspada Sovjetskog saveza, različitim politikama i instrumentima djeluje u smjeru stabilizacije istočnog susjedstva. Iz pregleda bilateralnih odnosa Europske unije s Armenijom, Azerbajdžanom i Gruzijom, izvode se i ključni sigurnosni izazovi iz regije Južnog Kavkaza.
Raspad Sovjetskog Saveza uzrokovao je nezapamćenu geopolitičku katastrofu u modernoj povijesti, ostavljajući nestabilne međuetničke prostore sudbini vlastitih nacionalizama. Sovjetski etno-kartografi ...su kompromisnim rješenjima ustrojili dinamičan prostor novog euroazijskog carstva ignorirajući i odgađajući srž međuetničkih problema. Sovjetskom politikom stvoreni su uvjeti za kontrolu Južnog Kavkaza koristeći međusobne odnose naroda za održavanje moći centralne vlasti pritom potpaljujući međuetničke sukobe. Iako su sovjetske politike težile rješavanju problema, njihov cilj je bio kontrola prostora Južnog Kavkaza pomoću čvrste državne moći čijim su nestankom i započeli odgođeni sukobi koji traju i dandanas.
