How to Break the Current Deadlock in Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Resolution: Strategic Dialogue on the Peace Process within a Boosted Peace Context?
2020 Research Digest, edited by George Vlad NICULESCU, EGF Head of Research Expert Peer-Review
Event EGF convenes high level expert seminar on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution in Tbilisi
On 22 July 2015, EGF convened a further dialogue event between Armenian and Azerbaijani experts in its ongoing sequence on "What the South Caucasus Region Could Be: Exploring the Role of Economic Initiatives as Peace Building Tools in the Nagorno-Karabakh Context" in Tbilisi (Georgia). Similar to previous events of this nature held in 2014, the Tbilisi meeting unfolded in a constructive atmosphere and aimed to assess the role of economic initiatives in building peace in the Nagorno-Karabakh context. READ MORE
Publication EGF Summary Conclusions: Exploring the Role of Economic Initiatives as Peace Building Tools in the Nagorno-Karabakh Context
EGF has released a combined summary document, including analysis, pictures, and other information from both the Brussels and Berlin Stakeholder Consultation rounds. Please click here for the PDF publication.
Event Stakeholder Consultation Round Two - Exploring the Role of Economic Initiatives as Peace Building Tools in the Nagorno-Karabakh Context [UPDATED]
The second stakeholder consultation round in EGF's ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh research took place on 06-08 July 2014 in Berlin (Germany), including introduction of a post-conflict scenario building workshop. More than 30 experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and international partner NGOs and institutions attended this highly successful event, held in a constructive atmosphere of exchange. It has been the first step towards exploring the idea of a roadmap leading towards an economically integrated South Caucasus, and created a platform for exchange of information between Armenian and Azerbaijani experts. During the post-conflict scenario building workshop, regional participants simulated the negotiation of a roadmap for the implementation of economic components of a peace agreement built upon the Madrid principles, encompassing joint economic measures in areas such as energy, transport, trade, rehabilitation of the territories affected by the conflict, and the return of IDPs to their homeland.
Event Brussels Seminar: Exploring the Role of Economic Initiatives as Peace Building Tools in the Nagorno-Karabakh Context
A highly successful roundtable discussion on Exploring the Role of Economic Initiatives as Peace Building Tools in the Nagorno-Karabakh Context took place on the 27th of March, 2014, at the European Parliament. The event was organized by the European Geopolitical Forum and international NGO partners, and was attended by more than 40 experts from the South Caucasus region and Brussels-based think tanks and international organizations who engaged in discussion in a constructive, informal ‘atmosphere of exchange’. The roundtable focused constructive energies on discussing a common future in an economically integrated South Caucasus, as a way to build mutual trust aimed at helping to overcome the current stalemate within the political and security negotiations. Please click here for the summary of conclusions of the event. READ MORE.
Research A Pragmatic Review of Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Resolution: Could Economic Incentives Help Break The Current Stalemate?
 (1 Mb) In this research, we attempt to take a more pragmatic approach towards the topic of the conflict resolution process between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. We believe this process remains in a dangerous state of stalemate at the time of writing. More specifically, we ask whether economic incentives could help break the current deadlock. In order to do this, we posed a series of questions to a notable range of international experts familiar with the conflict, asking as to whether an approach towards conflict resolution where Armenia would return some land to Azerbaijan in return for the latter providing access to regional energy and infrastructure projects could contribute towards breaking the stalemate. The “return of land”, in the context of our research, refers primarily to the seven districts of Azerbaijan which Armenian forces took during the Karabakh war of the 1990s and which remains under Armenian control to this day. We do not assume the “return of land” to mean the return of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave itself. At the outset of our research, we were optimistic that the “economic incentives” approach could offer a fresh dimension to conflict resolution in relation to the current stalemate over Nagorno-Karabakh. We felt that all parties could exercise a degree of “Caucasus pragmatism” if the right arguments were appropriately presented to governments and public, bearing in mind the widespread desire to see the region “take off” economically. Click here to read more.
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EGF Head of Research, Dr. George Vlad NICULESCU, co-edited a new volume on “Understanding Contemporary Information Landscape Handbook (UCIL)” with the Austrian National Defence Academy and the PfP Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes: “The idea of this Handbook sprang forth from a policy recommendation issued at a past Regional Stability in the South Caucasus Study Group (RSSC SG) workshop: “Create, with the assistance of PfP Consortium volunteers, a Reference Curriculum on Media Literacy, emphasizing the impact of modern communication techniques and social media on human biology, psychology and behaviour. The aim would be to raise awareness of the media as a tool of hybrid warfare, and how to build resilience to it at individual level.” Looking with an academic eye at the final product of our last three years of work I’d conclude that this Handbook is a great success as a valuable education tool for students and teachers in media studies, politics, international relations. READ MORE EGF Affiliated Expert Benyamin POGHOSYAN published a new article on “Iran’s policy in the South Caucasus after the end of the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war” with the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies from Ukraine. He concluded: “Iran currently pursues a status quo policy rather than revisionist ambitions. Tehran is interested in keeping the current balance of power, where Russia is an influential player through its military presence in Armenia and the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabakh. Iran would like to restrict the involvement of other actors in the region, in particular Israel and the US.” READ MORE EGF Affiliated Expert Nika CHITADZE published a new article with the Center for International Studies of the Black Sea University on “Will Putin Persuade Lukashenko to Involve the Belarusian Army in the War in Ukraine?”. The author thought that if Russian tanks that would likely attack Ukraine across the border with Belarus were accompanied by Belarusian troops this might be a heavy blow for the defenders of Ukraine, as well as for the Belarusians themselves. For the latter it might prove that their Lukashenko, who was "brought on his knees" by his desire to keep his presidential chair with Putin’s aid, succeeded in dividing the centuries-old friendship of the Ukrainian and Belarusian nations. READ MORE
On September 17, 2022, Dr. George Vlad Niculescu, the Head of Research of the European Geopolitical Forum, participated online in the panel on “The Republic of Moldova – Foreign Policy and Security Strategy under Imminent Threat” of the Bucharest Security Conference 2022. Please click here to view the agenda of the conference, here to check the content of the panels, and here to read his speaking points. On 03-05 November 2022, Dr. George Vlad Niculescu, Head of Research of the EGF, co-chaired the 24th workshop of the Regional Stability in the South Caucasus Study Group of the PfP Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes on “After 24 February 2022: Imagining South Caucasus Security”, held in Reichenau a/d Rax (Austria). Please click here for the programme and agenda outline, and here for his speaking points. 
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By Alan Whitehorn, Professor Emeritus in Political Science, The Royal Military College of Canada
