ID | 104195 |
Title Proper | Clash of regionalism and caucasian conflicts |
Language | ENG |
Author | Sakwa, Richard |
Publication | 2011. |
Summary / Abstract (Note) | THE RECOGNITION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF Abkhaziya and South Ossetiya on 26 August 2008, following the five-day Russo-Georgian War (8-12 August), at a stroke created a new dynamic in Russia's ethnic and federal relations and in the politics of the Caucasus as a whole. Nation and state building aspirations were heightened across the region. For the first time the independent political status of sub-national entities was recognised in post-Soviet Eurasia, and this could come to threaten Russia itself. The initial disintegration of Yugoslavia had occurred along the lines of the constituent republics, but the recognition by the United States and some of its allies of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008 broke the unspoken taboo against the recognition of sub-republican units that had governed processes of state formation in the post-communist world (Pavkovic´ & Radan 2007, Chapter 5). The war demonstrated that the process of the disintegration of the USSR was far from over, but had only been 'frozen' for some two decades. Russia was now forced to deal with Caucasian conflicts in a more fluid and broader international context, while intensifying concerns about Russia's own territorial integrity. Although the threat of outright separatism has waned, the adhesive bonds of the Caucasus with Russia have also weakened (Malashenko 2009). The interconnectedness of the various conflicts has now become evident (Cheterian 2008). |
`In' analytical Note | Europe-Asia Studies Vol.63,No.3; May 2011: p.467-491 |
Journal Source | Europe-Asia Studies Vol.63,No.3; May 2011: p.467-491 |
Key Words | Clash of Regionalism ; Caucasian Conflicts ; Competing Regionalisms ; Regionalisms - Caucasian Conflicts ; Russo - Georgian ; Reunification - Caucasus ; Chechen - Conflicts ; Multi Level Regionalisms |