MACMILLAN Understanding Ethnopolitical Conflict: Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia Wars Reconsidered (Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies)

This book critically evaluates the growing body of theoretical literature on ethnic conflict and civil war, using empirical data from three major South Caucasian conflicts, evaluating the relative strengths and weaknesses of the available methodological approaches. Review “The book is a significant contribution to the existing scholarly literature on the conflicts in the South Caucasus region. Souleimanov’s book presents a theoretically and empirically synthetic approach to detailed studies of conflict processes, which includes constructivist elements. … This book is a very good source for students and scholars of political science, international relations and security studies interested in ethno-political conflicts, civil wars and violence in the South Caucasus region.” (Zinaida Shevchuk, Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 67 (9), November, 2015) "Souleimanov has produced here just the kind of objective study that the region and its well-wishers need, an impartial, critical, well-researched study that weighs both the historical evidence and the contending theoretical approaches to these conflicts that is necessary for their proper analysis. Both readers coming to these issues for the first time and experts in the field will benefit from his careful analysis [...] One can only hope that this work will also inspire political actors to renew their efforts to find satisfactory political solutions to these conflicts before we have a repletion of the events of 2008 that could only carry with them even greater negative repercussions for international security." - Stephen Blank, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, USA "Emil Souleimanov presents a definitive work on conflict in the region, analysing a wealth of hitherto unexamined issues and sources. Drawing on a range of case studies, Souleimanov offers a rich, thought-provoking, and empirically-grounded account of local and regional political dynamics. In so doing he enhances our understanding of the theories of ethnic conflict and civil war, analysing the onset and escalation of conflict, presenting a scheme for understanding periods of conflict, and exploring the crucial role of elites and their perception of opportunity in transforming low-scale ethnic riots into fully-fledged civil war. The book deserves to be, and will be, widely read and frequently cited." - Cerwyn Moore, University of Birmingham, UK "This book is one of the fullest accounts to date about ethnopolitical conflicts in the South Caucasus. It is an impressively theorized explanation set in a comparative perspective and explicitly related to the key debates in the field of ethnic politics, contentious mobilizations, and civil wars. Its findings are rigorously formulated, they are informed by advanced theoretical thinking, and these findings clearly have relevance to understanding the current political transformations in many countries both inside and outside the South Caucasus. A statement of theoretical maturation, empirical complexity and unbiased analysis, Souleimanov's book is definitely worth a read. - Georgi Derluguian, Northwestern University, USA "This book is a must read for everybody interested in the South Caucasus, a complicated region at the crossroads of Europe and Asia that has seen a series of ethnic conflicts, civil wars, and geopolitical turmoil. Drawing on empirical detail, Souleimanov reflects on the vast array of current theories pertinent to the field of ethnic conflict and civil war, presenting an outstanding piece of research that improves our understanding of the causes, evolution, and outcomes of the regional conflicts in a broader context of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the establishment of independent republics, and the roles played by external powers." - Dmitry Shlapentokh, Indiana University-South Bend, USA "The Caucasus region today receives growing attention among scholars and decision-makers. While the countries