Karabakh and Abkhazia

This book presents a discussion of inter-ethnic conflicts in post-Soviet South Caucasus and analyses of the struggle for independence in Nagorno Karabakh and Abkhazia two failed Soviet autonomies from a sociological perspective. Drawing on comparative case studies of the two former Soviet autonomies in the South Caucasus the research demonstrates that a unidimensional analytical framework of inter-ethnic conflicts in the Caucasus does not adequately explain why ethnic groups struggle for independence. This sociological study argues that when social and political restructuring is resisted or ignored by a dominant social group over a long period of time alternative measures are sought by minority groups either to force a change or to create a new social order especially when 'historic' opportunities are presented. Minority-majority relations in the process of restructuring involve territorial claims ethnicity economic inequalities cultural differences religion social customs political inequalities access to political power and group interests.