South Caucasus on the Crossroads

The volume’s name speaks for itself. South Caucasus at a Crossroad: Thorny Realities and Great Expectations celebrates ten years of the Heinrich Boell Foundation’s active presence in the South Caucasus. Those were a turbulent ten years for the region. Wars, conflicts and sealed borders remained part of the reality in the South Caucasus.

In the context of cultural and political geography, the South Caucasus resembles a multi-image carpet that reflects the variety of nations living there and of the local nature. The collection of articles published by the Heinrich Boell Foundation - South Caucasus at a Crossroad: Thorny Realities and Great Expectations - is equally colorful.

The collection of works published by the Heinrich Boell Foundation under the name South Caucasus at a Crossroad: Right to Expanse and City brings together a broad spectrum of authors studying the post-Soviet experience of, and prospects for, the three South Caucasus countries.

Article by Charles Fairbanks "Weighing What We Do for Democracy in the South Caucasus” presented at the conference "South Caucasus on the Crossroads: 10 Years of Heinrich Boell Foundation in Region"

On 5-6 June, Heinrich Boell Foundation dedicated a two-day conference to celebrate the date together with its partners from all three South Caucasian countries, as well as the representatives of Academic sphere. 

Manana Kochladze (Georgian National Platform / EaP Civil Society Forum, Tbilisi) investigates how the West is perceived and represented in the Caucasus, suggesting a rethinking in Western policies.

Lincoln Mitchell (Columbia University) examines US engagement in the South Caucasus, touching on its failure to rethink democratic policies and enable profound change.

Introduction to the Caucasian Chalk Circle: Perceptions and Approaches of the Western Engagement Panel by Walter Kaufmann, Head of Division, Eastern and Southern Europe, Heinrich Boell Foundation.

Arpine Galfayan (Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, Yerevan) offers an account of public, street and environmental activism in Armenia.

Z. Ismayil, Director of the Public Association for Assistance to Free Economy, speaks about property rights in Azerbaijan, retracing its current situation to problematic legislation and state policies

David Losaberidze from the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD), Tbilisi, analyses public self-determination in the light of street activism.

Mr. Ivlian Haindrava, Director, Republican Institute, Tbilisi offers an analysis of political developments in Georgia in the past 10 years.

Gayane Shagoyan (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Yerevan) contrasts technological modernization in Armenia to societal and political de-modernization.

Sociologist Sergey Rumyantsev speaks about Azerbaijan’s retrograde modernization and increased “Sovietization.”

Mr. Rahman Badalov (National Academy of Sciences, Baku) depicts the challenges democracy has been facing in Azerbaijan in the past 10 years.