The South Caucasus experienced a tumultuous 2020. The global COVID-19 pandemic and renewed hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh have reshaped the region. As the South Caucasus countries struggle to cope with the consequences of the pandemic, questions arise whether institutional responses to challenges are sufficient, and the limits on various freedoms that were introduced to curb the spread of the virus are being manipulated for politics. The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War has fundamentally altered the political geographies of the South Caucasus. As the West and international organizations were largely absent during the conflict, the traditional regional powers, Russia and Turkey, emerged as powerbrokers. While the war is often discussed through the lens of greater geopolitical realignments, researchers need to address what it means to individuals and communities who are often omitted from such analyses.
The two-day virtual conference that will be held on June 25-26, 2021, seeks to answer these questions. Four thematic panels will unpack questions posed in this year’s conference theme. The Seventh Annual CRRC Conference will feature three keynote addresses, from Professor Jennifer McCoy (Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University), Dr. Laurence Broers (Conciliation Resources), and Dr. Gevorg Yeghikyan (ISTI-CNR, Pisa, Italy). The full agenda and abstract book is available here.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all scheduled events will take place virtually. Panel presentations, roundtables, and keynote speeches will be broadcasted via CRRCs’ Facebook pages. Audience members will be able to pose questions to presenters via feedback forms. Those who wish to participate in discussions must RSVP via this form.
Both days of the conference were recorded and are available on CRRC-Georgia’s YouTube channel. The videos are available here:
