post-Soviet Azerbaijan Research Articles

The Azerbaijani Language in Azerbaijan After the Political Independence: The Governmental Support of Mother Tongue and Multilingualism

This article is about ongoing language policy and language planning in the Republic of Azerbaijan after the political independence from the ex-Soviet Union in 1991. The intensive policy of Russification through education, especially during the Soviet period created a sizeable Russian-speaking segment in society. With regard to Russian, Azerbaijani displays typical signs of survival of a metropolitan language in a post-colonial context. It puts a certain pressure on the role of Azerbaijani, the language of the majority. It is a matter of significant public interest and subject of ongoing discussions in society. Despite the independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian language enjoys its high prestige in the country. There exists an ongoing debate among scholars about the growth of the Russian language in Azerbaijan. The aim of this article is an analysis of government bodies responsible for the government to carry out the implementation of the Azerbaijani language- the officially sole state language in Azerbaijan after the political independence from the ex-Soviet Union. For this reason, the article covers responsible bodies for the implementation of the Azerbaijani language in post-Soviet Azerbaijan and the re-establishment of Azerbaijani in society. With this regard, the post-independence period is interpreted and analyzed. Together with the analysis of this period, some possible changes are put forward that may improve the implementation of the Azerbaijani language. The existing gap in the country is a need for analysis of the following questions: What has been done in the development of the Azerbaijani language after the political independence from the ex-Soviet Union? How does government support and advocate the importance of learning in the Azerbaijani language? And to what extent does this support work in society? The study attempts to examine the role of top policy in the “language building” which took place from 1991, as well as the changes in legislation brought about by independence. This research will contribute to the study of language-building in post-Soviet space. It will shed light on how Azerbaijani society, which has been considered the first independent country from the former USSR managed to guard and improve the inherited multilingualism and mother tongue policy. It will further explore the new phase of transition that started after independence. Also, it will discuss the existing gap between policy-makers and academia which makes the formulation of new policies and strategies incomplete.

Secularism and National Identity in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan

Secularism and National Identity in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s foreign policy towards Russia since independence: compromise achieved

ABSTRACTDiscussions of post-Soviet countries’ policies towards Russia have been largely dominated by two mainstream neorealist approaches on states’ alignment choices – balancing and bandwagoning. While the first pattern entails allying against the primary source of threat, the second one opts for allying with the source of principal danger. By means of a case study, this article argues that the balancing-bandwagoning dichotomy is too simplistic in the case of Azerbaijan, which represents another possible paradigm. The research addresses the following question: what is the foreign policy model undertaken by modern Azerbaijan in its relations with Russia? To do so, it refers not only to the neorealist and neoclassical realist theories but also to the notion of national role conception. The article concludes that since 1993 Azerbaijan has pursued a middle-ground foreign policy orientation – strategic hedging – vis-à-vis Russia. Such a multi-tiered hedging behavior, which encompasses elements of both balancing and bandwagoning, has been driven mainly by national security concerns. Meanwhile, the country’s vast oil and gas resources, as well as its non-bloc geopolitical identity, have determined the somewhat ‘distant-from-Russia’ foreign policy orientation of post-Soviet Azerbaijan.

The importance of human capacity in terms of countries development

Human capacity in the modern world is one of the main types of economic potential. It can be measured with the help of Human Development Index (HDI). The Human Development Index is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development. The subject of research of the article is human potential as the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country. The purpose of the work is to determine the role of human potential in the process of economic development of the state. Scientific methods are used, such as graphical analysis (to determine dynamics of HDI development in Ukraine), correlation analysis (to show the impact of HDI on GNI per capita in post-Soviet countries). Traditionally OECD countries show very high human development (0,89). Among post-Soviet countries Russia and Belarus outrank other states in human development index. However, it appears that they improved their characteristics largely by prolonging the time its population spends in school rather than boosting population health and the standard of living indices. Russia ranks 49th and Belarus ranks 53rd in the 2017 Human Development Index. That places them ahead of fellow post-Soviet states, Kazakhstan (58th), Azerbaijan (80th), Armenia (83rd) and Ukraine (88th). Conclusions: the experience of developed countries, as well as some post-Soviet states, shows that the development of human potential sufficiently affects some certain macroeconomic indicators, especially in emerging economies. Moreover, the growth of human potential can support the development of an innovative economy of the state, which is extremely relevant for Ukraine. Therefore, attention should be paid to the main areas of development of human potential, such as: demographic and public preservation policies, development of health care; development of physical culture and sports, development of education, development of culture and mass media; labor market development; development of social institutions and social policy; youth policy; development of the pension system; ecological safety.

The Baku 2015 European Games as a national milestone of post-Soviet Azerbaijan

The Baku European Games, the first multi-sport mega-event held at a European level, was a major public relations undertaking by Azerbaijan. The games were framed by a trend involving large-scale sports events promoted by the Ilham Aliyev government, based on the profits of the second oil boom in the twenty-first century. The sports event served to internationally portray Azerbaijan as a rapidly developing country and in this way to increase national consciousness within the society, which was lacking a collective narrative in the post-Soviet era. Nonetheless, the downturn due to the fall of international oil prices negatively affected the impact of the sports mega-event. Moreover, the sports competition symbolized the government's commitment to impose reasons of state and nation-building over social needs and political freedoms in Azerbaijan. This article is based on empirical fieldwork carried out in Baku in the months following the multi-sports event.

SULTANISM AND SEMI-AUTHORITARIANISM IN POST-SOVIET AZERBAIJAN

The article is devoted to the research of hybrid political regime in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. The aim of the research is to apply a new conceptual framework, proposed by political scholar Farid Guliyev, combining concepts of sultanism and semi-authoritarianism. The research concludes that sultanistic semi-authoritarianism can be suitable model to study systemic political transformations of Azerbaijan at the beginning of XXI century.

‘An elder in punk clothes’: purged frets and finding true mugham in post-Soviet Azerbaijan

ABSTRACTToday one encounters a striking diversity of approaches when it comes to the arrangement of scalar intervals on the tar, Azerbaijan’s primary national instrument. Frets are moved, added, omitted according to the idiosyncrasies of each musician. Each tonal scheme is fervently defended and justified by various factors such as aesthetic taste, a putative knowledge of pre-Soviet mugham, the desire to highlight an ‘Eastern’ nature of mugham, ‘mission from above’, and even suggested contact with the dead. What once was a rigid structure during Soviet times has now become flexible, unhinged from the past by the experimentation, innovation, restoration and reconstitution of musicians. Through an analysis of this extended creative moment, I theorise the many attempts to reintroduce extra frets as nativism. Instead of trying to find a pattern or argue for which version is historically valid, I stress the importance of all attempts as forms of decolonial activity.

Frustrated democracy in post-Soviet Azerbaijan

Frustrated democracy in post-Soviet Azerbaijan

Contested spaces: the use of place-names and symbolic landscape in the politics of identity and legitimacy in Azerbaijan

ABSTRACTThis article deals with the political manipulation of symbolic landscape, using post-Soviet Azerbaijan as a case study. In particular, it looks at the practice of toponym changes as an element of political legitimization and national identity-making. The political use and manipulation of place-names and symbolic landscape is a relatively recent phenomenon that became particularly widespread in the twentieth century. It is widely used for ideological or nationalist purposes throughout the world – from Iran to Israel, from former Yugoslavia to the USSR. However, I argue that post-Soviet Azerbaijan represents an unusual case where one can clearly see strikingly different patterns of place-name manipulation in the pursuit of political legitimacy. It argues that while questions of political legitimacy and nationalism found their reflection in the policy of place-name manipulation, their uses followed clearly different routes and were confined to separate areas.

Informal Institutions in Azerbaijan: Exploring the Intricacies of Tapsh

Research on informal aspects of the post-communist economy and political institutions has developed rapidly since the collapse of the Soviet Union. While there is no lack in research on informal practices in Russia and other Eastern European countries, comprehensive empirical investigations of informality in peripheral regions of the former Soviet Union—such as the Caucasus and Central Asia—are still rare. This article aims to fill this gap by providing an evidence-based empirical account of informal practices in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. Drawing its empirical data from a two-decade-long ethnographic participant observation carried out in various locales of Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, this study offers nuanced insights into the hitherto unexplored informal practice of tapsh.

Government and biodiversity governance in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan: an institutional perspective

Over the last 15 years, Azerbaijan has doubled its protected areas territory to almost 10 % of the country’s surface area. Although the daily management of the existing strictly protected areas continues to pose a challenge, the establishment of nine national parks has been a remarkable achievement. At present, the designation of UNESCO biosphere reserves (BR) is the expressed political will of the government. By reviewing the last 25 years of nature conservation, and, in particular, the national park programme, we present an institutional analysis for integrative nature conservation in Azerbaijan. Against the cultural, social and political background, in particular the transition of the state, the challenges for cross-hierarchical governance of protected areas are outlined at the example of a BR. We find that the implementation of the UNESCO MAB philosophy, which is based on inter alia participation by administration, local communities and rural stakeholder, is hampered by this present-day political reality. The political situation and an autocratic governance scheme put successful implementation of a “model region of sustainable development” at risk. Education and empowerment are a prerequisite for eventual success; this is true for Azerbaijan as well as for other Post-Soviet countries with strong top-down regimes.

Sergej Rumjancev, Как рассказывают национальную историю детям в Азербайджане / How National History Is Narrated to Azerbaidzhan’s Children

In post-Soviet Azerbaijan, national history underwent a certain revision in which “friendship of peoples” ceased to be its central theme and was replaced by the images of Soviet-inspired national heroes, and fighters for independence. At the same time, given the fact that building an independent Azerbaijan coincided with the Karabakh conflict, it is quite natural to expect that these events would have had an impact on the texts included in the history textbooks which, in their turn, are intended to rear patriots of their country capable of discerning “one’s own” from “others” and ready to take part in yet another conflict when and if the need arises. A number of ethnic myths have sneaked into the textbooks during the process of reviewing school programs and getting rid of the “dark stains” in Azerbaijani history.

Genderové aspekty nucené migrace

This case study focuses on a variety of adaptation strategies responding to the economic uncertainty caused by forced migration in the post-Soviet Azerbaijan and their impact on gender. Liminal form of forced migration process contributes to the transformation of the ways of making a living and causing a negotiation of gender boundaries. These become more flexible and permeable but they are still constrained by socially shared and reproduced images of the ideal division of gender roles. I will illustrate longterm consequences of forced migration and negotiation of gender roles in three stories of households living in the rural foothills of Nagorno-Karabakh, where I conducted repeated long-term ethnographic research.

Negotiating welfare with the informalizing state: Formal and informal practices among engineers in post-Soviet Azerbaijan

This article discusses the use of informal practices in negotiating welfare with state institutions in Azerbaijan. One of the effects of transition to market economies in the post-socialist countries has been the partial withdrawal of the state from welfare provision and residualization of welfare. Recent research has shown that informal practices play an important role in “structuring welfare from below” (Morris & Polese, 2014b) across post-socialist realm. Based on in-depth interviews with engineers at different periods of their careers, namely mid-career, working pensioners, and engineering students, this article demonstrates how formal and informal institutions and practices are strategically used by individuals, families, and low level bureaucrats to achieve desired career and welfare goals. Rather than compensating for the deficiencies of formal rules and institutions, formal and informal are intertwined and merged and are actively employed both by the citizens and state institutions.

Sergey Rumyancev, Ускользающая современность: постсоветская модернизация Азербайджана / Vanishing Modernity: The Post-Soviet Modernization of Azerbaijan

The article focuses on the debates situation of post-soviet modernization and transformation of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani economy failed to become a market economy, and remains instead predominantly based on the extraction and sale of oil and natural gas. Cities are being ruralised instead of the urbanization of rural areas. In its turn, industrialization ended together with the Soviet Union. A more or less tangible individualization and fragmentation of social life are not part of the history of post-Soviet Azerbaijan either. The political and economic systems of Azerbaijan are an imitation of a modern state. It is an example of a simulacrum state and a total imitation of modern political institutions and relations. In other words: The political regime in Azerbaijan is a complex of imitative practices, relations and “institutional camouflages” that enable a broad international presentation of Azerbaijan, effectively privatized by a small group of people, as a modern state that exists in reality.

Kazakh Russian Cooperation as the Core of Eurasian Integration: A Comparative Study of Bilateral Relations between the Russian Federation and the Post-Soviet Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan

Current paper is a study of a unique link tying Russia and Kazakhstan, particularly, its resistant, yet flexible nature in developing amicable relations and a thriving economic exchange with Russia, which has not been achieved by any other post-Soviet state. The study finds that the overall success of the foreign policy has been driven by Kazakhstan’s endowments in energy, industrial, and security sectors, leveraged by canny leadership of its elite. The chosen method is a comparative analysis of Russia's relations with Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan via a study of historical links, role of political elites, international agreements, state visits, and trade.

Hidden in plain sight: political opposition and hegemonic authoritarianism in Azerbaijan

This paper examines the consolidation and maintenance of hegemonic authoritarianism in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. Hegemonic regimes are characterized by their nearly total lack of political competition. Despite the presence of opposition parties and regular elections, the incumbent in these cases is reelected with 70% or more of the vote. What does it take to sustain overwhelming margins of victory in regular elections in the face of institutionalized opposition? Previous studies have suggested that either violent repression or institutionalized co-optation of opposition groups is central to securing long-term hegemonic regime stability. These mechanisms explain how rulers forestall potential opposition. Upon coming to power in 1993, however, Heydar Aliyev – like many post-Soviet leaders – inherited a genuine, existing opposition in the Popular Front movement. I suggest that in the presence of an intractable opposition, Azerbaijan's rulers have taken a different approach with regard to regime maintenance. Drawing on over 50 original interviews conducted during 6 months of field research, I identify the mechanisms by which the government has “hidden the opposition in plain sight” by making it effectively difficult for existing opposition groups to function as credible political parties. Since the mid-1990s, the Aliyev regime has used informal measures to prevent these groups from aggregating and articulating the diverse interests present in society from visibly competing in elections and from serving effectively in government to craft and implement policy. These practices have rendered the opposition technically legal, but completely ineffective. Besides weakening the opposition, these measures produce a series of mutually reinforcing effects – including noncompetitive elections by default and a politically disengaged society – that sustain long-term regime stability. The paper concludes by examining this argument in comparative perspective. Hegemonic regimes have proliferated in the post-Soviet region, and I suggest that this strategy is an important factor in sustaining many of these regimes.

Immigrants in Azerbaijan: Current Situation and Prospects of (Re)integration Policy

“Our identity is at once plural and partial.Sometimes we feel that we straddle two cultures;At other times, that we fall between two stools.” Salman Rushdie The integration problems of immigrants in the post-Soviet Azerbaijan have not been the focus of researchers' attention. The present article fills this gap. I classify immigrants into three groups: 1) natives of Azerbaijan (re-emigrants) and their family members; 2) ethnics from Georgia; 3) labour immigrants from different countries, who arrive to Azerbaijan to look for a job or to open their own business. I examine the social resources and practices used by immigrants to support their integration, in the absence of state integration policy. I conclude that the main resource is each immigrant's personal social capital, based on networks. These networks are transnational in their nature. Immigrants build up and integrate in this kind of transnational network, as well as in the transnational spaces of the capital of Azerbaijan (Baku), where the vast majority of them reside after they move to the country.

Oil and Health Care in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan

AbstractHealth care systems reflect historical relationships between states and citizens, as well as predominant values and institutions marking a particular social milieu. Theories that place national health care in historical social context tend to exaggerate the forces of globalization and to underestimate the role of local specificities. A health care system and its social context, however, are shaped at the intersection of global, regional, and local factors, rather than by globalization alone. In this article I demonstrate this combined influence by tracking the transition in Soviet to post-Soviet health care Azerbaijan. I show that the dissolution of Azerbaijan’s socialized health care was due not to neoliberal globalization, but rather to the historical constellation of global, regional, and national processes, including the political choice of a petroleum-based development strategy.

Perceptions of State and Leadership in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan (1991–2009)

The focus of this paper is the shifting perceptions of the state, leadership and politics, and the shifting perceptions of Azerbaijanis themselves and the outside world. The information presented in this article is based on personal interviews conducted with leading and influential members of the Azerbaijani political elite in Baku in August 1998 and April 2009. Attitudes and norms concerning the state, leadership and politics emanate from three sources: the legacy of the pre-Soviet (Turkish) period, the Soviet period, and the circulation of western democratic values and norms. This reflects the impact of historical and cultural forces that have shaped the lives of the political elites and are manifested in their understanding of contemporary governance. A powerful state and a strong leader mutually reinforce each other where the leader is perceived as responsible for the well-being of its citizens. In this context, the article examines the conflicting narratives of the government and the opposition in Azerbaijan while reconstructing their national past and building their future, where their past becomes an important source for the mentality of governance in the country.