At a time when the world seems to be moving from the early decades of post-Soviet unipolarity towards a complex form of multipolarity, conflicts have erupted, and tensions emerged from the Middle East to Ukraine, and from Ukraine to the South China Sea. The South Caucasus—historically a contact zone between and among various imperial civilizations (Persian, Slavic, Turkic), religions and denominations (Apostolic Christianity, Orthodox Christianity, Shia Islam, and Sunni Islam), and ethnolinguistic groups—is an area where both conflicts and tensions are nowadays visible. The South Caucasus has also been historically, and is currently, a strategic crossroads linking China and India with Western Asia and the seas adjacent to it. Today, it is highly significant for various vast transport and commercial projects originating, among others, in Central Asia, China and India. The South Caucasus, finally, is at the frontline of tensions between democratizing countries—Armenia and Georgia—and what some have called their surrounding illiberal, “authoritarian axis” made up of varied regime types, such as the dynastic corrupt autocracy governing Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, or the personalist, corrupt authoritarian regimes of the Russian Federation and Türkiye.
The goal of this conference, bringing together well known current or former diplomats, international relations analysts, and scholars, is to assess the current situation prevailing in the South Caucasus from both a regional and international perspective. Among the many issues that are likely to be discussed, one could mention the (endangered) prospects for continued democratization in Georgia and Armenia; the lack of resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and its possible (limited) resumption; the relative weakening of the Russian grip over this region, or at the very least its metamorphosis; the growing Russian-Azerbaijani rapprochement, if not strategic collaboration; the growing role of Türkiye; the pragmatic collaboration, not devoid of tensions, between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation; the attempted expansion of the EU’s influence; and obviously the differing roles played by more distant powers, such as China, India, and the United States.
Apart from established scholars or analysts of Armenian ancestry, one speaker per relevant country or supranational organization will be invited.
Recording of the conference - Day 1
Recording of the conference - Day 2