Why Nations Go to War? Ethnocracy vs Democratic Peace in Divided South Caucasus

Abstract

Based on the analysis of some theoretical approaches and practical circumstances, this research paper explores the issue of war origins and their solutions in divided regions such as South Caucasus. It has to be noted that regions with considerable ethnic diversities and cultural distinctions as well as with non-democratic regimes have a huge conflict potential.In this context, the South Caucasus has become a boiling conflict zone after the Soviet-Union dissolution. Since then, many times and by different ways the efforts to resolve the conflicts were undertaken but with no positive outcomes yet. Some of these conflicts (for example: South Ossetia or Abkhazia) stay as frozen but another one such as Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was reignited in 2020 after 25 years of relative truce.The complex analysis of relevant issues showcases that a sustainable peace-building in the South Caucasus can become possible mostly by democratic values’ promotion based on consociation of interests. In this regard, the article suggests and substantiates a democratic (consociational) peace-building approach when the rights and legitimate claims of smaller nations will be considered and respected by bigger ones. This approach can be seen as an appropriate and soft way for stabilizing the South Caucasus region.