The Caucasus

International Alert has been working in support of peace in the Caucasus since 1993. Our holistic approach is based on the understanding that the different conflicts in the region, though having different dynamics, histories and sensitivities, cannot be addressed in isolation from one another, just as the societies involved need support to engage with one another bilaterally.

In addition, Alert’s work is based on a strategic framework looking at issues of governance, confidence-building and economic cooperation. By interlinking regional and bilateral efforts to the strategic framework, Alert is able to stimulate engagements at different levels across conflict divides that would be politically impossible otherwise. Our current projects involve:

	Confidence-building between Georgian and Abkhazia civil society – Working to help create structures that can contribute to peace, influence governments and the rest of society and prevent further conflict by building confidence between different groups of people.
	A Consortium Initiative for the Nagorny Karabakh conflict resolution process – The Consortium Initiative is unique in that it is the only significant engagement that links stakeholders at multiple levels from Nagorny Karabakh itself with counterparts in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
	Researching the link between economy and conflict – Since 2003, this project has been working to engage the private sectors (local business and trans-national corporations) across the region in economic initiatives that contribute to conflict reduction in the South Caucasus.

A number of key operating principles guide Alert’s engagement in the region. First is our commitment to work with all sides of conflict – in the three recognised states as well as in the non-recognised entities. Second, Alert focuses on sustainability and impact by ensuring strong local ownership of all of its activities. This is done by building links between those most impacted by conflict (IDPs, refugees, ex-combatants, small and medium sized business people in conflict impacted communities, people living in border regions) and the political peace processes at different levels. Third, Alert is committed to base its work in the South Caucasus on sound analysis and knowledge of the political, social and economic context of the different conflicts by engaging stakeholders and experts in analytical research. Finally, we encourage partners on different sides of the conflicts to challenge national conflict narratives focused on zero-sum positions with constructive dialogue on broad human security, to place economic security, healthcare, respect for the rule of law and justice into national security debates. These issues link the security needs of communities across conflict divides and are the foundation of needs-based confidence-building. These principles – reflecting Alert’s commitment to balance, legitimacy, analysis and human security – are the basis of a long-term engagement to build lasting peace in the South Caucasus.


The conflict context

The geographic boundaries in the South Caucasus are contested.
International Alert does not endorse any one view,
but has included this map to help website users.

The large-scale violent conflicts of the early 1990s left the Caucasus in a situation of neither peace nor war, leaving populations throughout the region with an uncertain future and undermining political reform and economic development. The political context is volatile.

Autumn 2003 saw the beginning of a series of dramatic political events that has changed the region and the conflict contexts. The death of Heydar Aliyev in Azerbaijan and the ‘Rose Revolution’ in Georgia, which resulted in the departure of Eduard Shevardnadze after nearly 30 years of rule, changed political relationships and redefined assumptions across the region. The new Georgian president, with a broad political mandate, has launched a massive anti-corruption campaign and has made the re-establishment of Georgian control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia a test of his regime, challenging the status quo. In Abkhazia, disputes over the results of the de facto presidential elections in October 2004 demonstrated that political processes in the disputed territory are much less predictable than had been previously assumed, and that both civil society and institutions have a real capacity to influence events.

In the summer of 2004, hostilities resumed between Georgia and South Ossetia, seriously undermining the formal settlement process and harming unofficial relationships built up over the past 10 years. The relationship between Georgia and Russia, strongly linked to the latter’s support to the two breakaway regions, is increasingly tense. Elsewhere in the South Caucasus, hostile rhetoric and large-scale military build-up along with little political development in the frozen conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over the territory of Nagorny Karabakh give little hope for a peaceful resolution in the nearby future. Economic insecurity is widespread, and closed borders, official and de facto, continue to form major obstacles on the road to regional integration, instead opening up possibilities for conflict profiteers. With all three countries now included in the European Union’s New Neighbourhood Policy, it remains to be seen how effective this framework will be in promoting economic and political regional cooperation.

For more information contact Cinta Depondt

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Last updated: December 2006