The Failure of The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Resolution: Shortcomings of Facilitative Mediation or an Unsuitable Mediator? Cover Image

The Failure of The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Resolution: Shortcomings of Facilitative Mediation or an Unsuitable Mediator?
The Failure of The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Resolution: Shortcomings of Facilitative Mediation or an Unsuitable Mediator?

Author(s): Davor Boban, Iva Blažević
Subject(s): International relations/trade, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Present Times (2010 - today), Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: Fakultet političkih znanosti u Zagrebu
Keywords: Nagorno-Karabakh; OSCE; Minsk Group; Facilitative Mediation; Conflict Resolution;

Summary/Abstract: The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began in 1988 after the regional Supreme Council declared the transfer of the region from the Azerbaijani SSR to the Armenian SSR. The full-scale war started in 1992 after the dissolution of the USSR and ended with the May 1994 armistice. In the following quarter century, a peaceful resolution of the conflict was mediated by OSCE’s Minsk Group in a form of facilitative mediation. The warring sides have never reached a final solution and a new war started in the autumn of 2020. This paper examines how facilitative mediation was conducted by the Minsk Group and why it eventually failed. The conclusion of this paper is that the combination of the weak mandate and the co-chairs’ separate and incongruous interests in the Caucasus resulted in the failure of the conflict resolution in Nagorno-Karabakh.

  • Issue Year: LX/2023
  • Issue No: 02
  • Page Range: 69-92
  • Page Count: 24
  • Language: English
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