The End of the Cold War Has Led to a Transformation in Security Studies
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The London School of Economics and Political Science Weaving Webs of Insecurity: Fear, Weakness and Power in the Post-Soviet South Caucasus Kevork Oskanian A thesis submitted to the Department of International Relations of the London School of Economics and Political Science, London, September 2010 In Memory of Djanik Oskanian (1927-2007) 2 DECLARATION I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of the author. I warrant that this authorization does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. 3 ABSTRACT This thesis‟ central aim is the application of a Wendtian-constructivist expansion of Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) on a specific case study: the South Caucasus. To that effect, three concepts of RSCT – amity/enmity, state incoherence, and great power penetration – are expanded and developed within the broader above- mentioned ontological-epistemological framework. Amity-enmity is elaborated into an integrated spectrum founded on varying ideational patterns of securitisation alongside objective characteristics, and encompassing conflict formations, security regimes and security communities. States are conceptualised as ideational-institutional-material „providers of security‟; their incoherence is characterised over three tiers and two dimensions, leading to a distinction between vertical and horizontal inherent weakness, ostensible instability and failure. Great power penetration is dissected into its objective, subjective and intersubjective elements, resulting in a 1+3+1 typology of its recurring patterns: unipolar, multipolar-cooperative and multipolar-competitive, bounded by hegemony and disengagement. After the specification of a methodology incorporating both objective macro- and interpretive micro-perspectives, two working hypotheses are specified. Firstly, that state incoherence engenders high levels of regional enmity, and, secondly, that patterns of great power penetration primarily affect transitions of regional amity/enmity between conflict formations and security regimes. The framework is subsequently used to triangulate these hypotheses through an application of the theoretical framework on the post-Soviet Southern Caucasus. An initial macro- overview is subsequently provided of the Southern Caucasus as a regional security complex; the three expanded concepts are consequently investigated, in turn, from the discursive micro-perspective. The South Caucasus is categorised into a „revisionist conflict formation‟, the nature of its states‟ incoherence is characterised, and existing patterns of great power penetration are identified as competitive-multipolar. In the final chapter, the hypotheses are largely confirmed, and various scenarios as to the possible emergence of a regional security regime are investigated. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work would not have been possible without the counsel and cooperation of scores of individuals who contributed their knowledge, constructive criticism, practical aid or emotional support to this endeavour. I would first of all like to thank my supervisors, Dr. Roy Allison and Prof. Barry Buzan, and my panellists, Dr. Jürgen Haacke and Prof. Chris Hughes for providing me with the irreplaceable empirical and theoretical directions on the long road towards completion. My appreciation also goes out to all those who assisted me during my fieldwork in Yerevan, Tbilisi and Sukhumi: Levon Chaushyan and Gohar Shahazizyan, Levon Ouzounian, Janna Davtyan, Melsida Akopyan and Artavazd Saretsian. I would also like to express my indebtedness to the faculty at the International Relations Department of the London School of Economics, who were indispensible in driving my intellectual growth during four crucial years of my life: in particular Prof. Mick Cox and Prof. Margot Light, for their role in leading the so-productive IR509 Research Design seminars; Prof. Kimberly Hutchings, Dr. George Lawson and Dr. Kirsten Ainley for their part in convening the always-inspirational IR502 Theory seminars; and Mr. Mark Hoffman for organising the ever-informative IR512 International Security workshops. I would also like to convey my appreciation for the irreplaceable work done by Mrs. Hilary Parker, without whom the day-to-day functioning of the LSE IR department would be, to put it mildly, far less straightforward. That same department is also owed appreciation for the funding provided towards the realisation of this project. As for my fellow travellers, especially those of the 2006 intake: the countless remarks in the methodology and theory seminars, the empirically significant lunch-time discussions on the 7th floor of Clement House, the friendly but theoretically profound chats at the post-seminar drinking sessions in The George IV will not be forgotten. My gratitude goes out to Manuel Almeida, Ana Alves, Adel Altoraifi, Gregorio Bettiza, Alexis Crow, Alex Edwards, Rebekka Friedman, Jasmine Gani, Ben Holland, Joe Hoover, Zeynep Kaya, Jorge Lasmar, Candice Moore, Ramon “Moncho” Pacheco- Pardo, Vassilis Paipais, Chris Phillips, Marco Pinfari, Henry Radice, Jeff Reeves, Meera Sabaratnam, Laust Schouenborg and Ee-Long Toh. 5 FRONT MATTER Geopolitical Map of the Caucasus 6 Timeline of Events in the South Caucasus 1988-2009 February 1988: Demonstrations demanding the Autonomous Region‟s reattachment to Armenia take place in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh and Yerevan, Armenia; deadly anti-Armenian pogroms follow in Sumgait, Azerbaijan. June 1988: An open letter from sixty members of the Abkhaz intelligentsia accuses Georgia of a long-term policy of forcible assimilation June 1988: The harassment and expulsion of Azeris from Armenia escalates. April 1989: A massacre of pro-independence demonstrators by Red Army troops takes place in Tbilisi, Georgia. July 1989: Deadly clashes erupt in Sukhumi between ethnic Georgians and Abkhaz in reaction to a Georgian government decision to convert the Georgian-language section of Sukhumi State University into a branch of Tbilisi State University September 1989: „Ademon Nykhas‟, the South Ossetian nationalist movement, demands the reunification of the Autonomous Region with the North Ossetian Autonomous Republic, located in Russia. November 1989: The Supreme Soviet of South Ossetia demands that the Autonomous Region‟s status be upgraded to that of Autonomous Republic. The Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR affirms its right to secede from the USSR. Zviad Gamsakhurdia‟s „March on Tskinvali‟ results in armed clashes between Georgians and Ossetians. December 1989: The Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR includes Nagorno- Karabakh in its yearly budget, effectively annexing the territory. January 1990 (‘Black January’): Anti-Armenian pogroms and anti-Soviet demonstrations take place in Baku and are followed by a violent military crackdown. August 1990: A declaration of sovereignty is adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR. September 1990: The Supreme Soviet of South Ossetia declares the region a fully sovereign union republic of the USSR, in effect seceding from Georgia. October 1990: Parliamentary elections in Georgia -boycotted by most Abkhaz and Ossetians.- are won by Gamsakhurdia‟s Round Table–Free Georgia pro-independence bloc. December 1990: The Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR adopts a declaration of sovereignty. January 1991: Georgian interior ministry troops enter Tskhinvali; armed conflict erupts in South Ossetia. March 1991: The all-union referendum on the preservation of a reformed USSR is boycotted by Armenia and Georgia. Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Azerbaijan participate and overwhelmingly vote in favour of the union. April 1991: Georgia declares independence. May 1991: Zviad Gamsakhurdia is elected President of Georgia. 7 May 1991: „Operation Ring‟, involving Soviet and Azeri Interior Ministry troops, attempts to disarm Armenian militias in and around Nagorno-Karabakh; ethnic Armenian villagers from the neighbouring Shahumyan district are forcibly displaced. September 1991: Armenia declares independence. September 1991: Ayaz Mutalibov is elected President of Azerbaijan. October 1991: Levon Ter-Petrosyan is elected President of Armenia. October 1991: Azerbaijan declares independence. December 1991: Nagorno-Karabakh declares independence following a referendum among its ethnic Armenian inhabitants. December 1991: The USSR is formally dissolved. December 1991: Zviad Gamsakhurdia is ousted as president of Georgia, in a bloody military uprising. February 1992: Hundreds of Azeri civilians are massacred in the village of Khojali, within Nagorno-Karabakh, during an advance by Armenian troops. February 1992: The Georgian parliament abolishes the Soviet-era constitution in favour of the 1921 Georgian Democratic Republic‟s, provoking disquiet in Abkhazia. March 1992: Eduard Shevardnadze is appointed Acting Chairman of the Georgian State Council. May 1992: Sushi – Nagorno-Karabakh largest Azeri-inhabited town – falls to ethnic Armenian forces; the Lachin corridor between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia is created; following a military rebellion, Ayaz Mutalibov is succeeded as president of Azerbaijan by the Popular Front‟s Abufaz Elchibey; Azeri-Armenian armed clashes on the Nakhichevan border elicit threats and counter-threats