Table of Contents

The Post-Soviet Crisis
Ali Askerov, Stefan Brooks, and Lasha Tchantouridzé

Chapter One
The Rise of Putin’s Russia and the post-Soviet Conflicts
Stefan Brooks

Chapter Two
Georgia’s Changing Strategic Situation
S. Neil MacFarlane

Chapter Three
The Nagorno Karabakh Conflict: The Beginning of the Soviet End
Ali Askerov

Chapter Four
Legitimacy and Force In The Conflict Over South Ossetia
Lasha Tchantouridzé

Chapter Five
The Conflict Over Abkhazia: Mutually Exclusive National Projects and Fragmented Statehood
David Matsaberidze
Chapter Six
Ajara: A Case in Conflict Avoidance
Zurab Tchiaberashvili

Chapter Seven
Chechnya: Interrupted Independence
Ali Askerov & Mairbek Vatchagaev

Chapter Eight
Dagestan: A Silent War
Robert Bruce Ware

Chapter Nine
Long-term Effects of Wartime Violence in Tajikistan
Malte Müller and Sam Whitt

Chapter Ten
Communal Violence in Kyrgyzstan
Joldon Kutmanaliev

Chapter Eleven
Caspian Sea Dispute
Musa Qasımlı

Chapter Twelve
Tatarstan: A Model of Peaceful Relations or Potential Spot of Conflict
Sait Ocakli

Chapter Thirteen
Moldova’s Breakaway Transnistria: The Origins, Nature and Current Dynamics
Kamala Valiyeva

Chapter Fourteen
Ukraine Between ‘The Russian World’ and the Black Sea
Lasha Tchantouridzé

Chapter Fifteen
Occupied Territory, Interrupted Dreams, And Shattered Hopes: A Trilogy of Traumas of the Crimean Tatar People
Idil P. Izmirli

About the Author

Ali Askerov is associate professor in the department of peace and conflict studies at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.



Stefan Brooks is associate professor of Homeland Security at Rabdan Academy.



Lasha Tchantouridzé is professor of diplomacy and international relations at Norwich University – Military College of Vermont.