Syllabus
Ethno-political Conflicts in the Caucasus (JMM 130)
Associate Professor Adrian Brisku, PhD
Doctoral Student, Lamiya Panahova
Department of Russian & East European Studies, Charles University https://cuni.academia.edu/adrianBrisku adrian.brisku@fsv.cuni.cz lamiya.panahova@fsv.cuni.cz
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Ethno-political conflicts are not a phenomenon peculiar to the region of the Caucasus. But they became part of the region’s post-Soviet history following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In this context, this one-semester course sheds light on key aspects of ethno-political conflict in the region by combining an understanding of major concepts and theories of ethno-political conflict initiation and separatism with an analysis of the case studies of Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The course will also draw attention to latent hotspots of ethno-political tensions across the region.
A. COURSE DESIGN 1. Introduction to the course (Brisku) 2. Historical Context of the Region (Panahova) 3. Understanding the main concepts: identity, ethnicity, nationalism (Brisku) 4. Defining ethno-political conflict (Brisku) 5. Theorizing the causes of ethno-political conflict and separatism (Brisku) 6. Escalation of ethno-political conflict (Panahova) 7. Reconciliation in ethnic conflict (Brisku) 8. Case study I – the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: causes & escalation (Panahova) 9. Case study II – the South-Ossetia conflict: the causes & escalation (Panahova) 10. Case study III – the Abkhazia conflict: the causes & escalation (Panahova) 11. Cases of latent ethnic conflict in the region (Panahova) 12. Workshop (Brisku)
Updated, 4.09.2023
Annotation
Ethno-political conflicts are not a phenomenon peculiar to the region of the Caucasus. But they became part of the region’s post-Soviet history following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In this context, this one-semester course sheds light on key aspects of ethno-political conflicts in the region by combining an understanding of major concepts and theories of ethno-political conflict initiation and separatism with an analysis of the case studies of Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The course will also draw attention to latent hotspots of ethno-political tensions across the region.