Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Transcaucasia and its Role in the Dissolution of the Soviet Union: A Comparative Perspective

Abstract

In 1985, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachov initiated the perestroika, which was meant to liberalize the country's centrally planned economy and strictly controlled society. However, as often happens with attempts to liberalize, there soon comes a borderline that the initiator of liberalization had not expected to meet or intended to cross, but by then it is usually too late to stop. The series of reforms introduced went out of Gorbachov's control and only gave rise to strong nationalist movements in the Soviet Republics. This essay deals with the roots of nationalism in South Caucasus (Transcaucasia) in the last years of perestroika in the Soviet Union and the role of ethnic conflicts in shaking the state shortly before its dissolution in 1991. Parallels are drawn between the Baltic and the Transcaucasian nationalist movements to examine common features as well as differences within the framework of a unified Soviet state.