Rahvusvaheliste suhete ja regiooni uuringute õppekava magistritööd – Master´s theses

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10062/56853

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Endless conflict or ended conflict. Prospects for permanent peace after second Karabakh war
(Tartu Ülikool, 2022) Maharramov, Ismayil; Berg, Eiki, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
The Nagorno Karabakh enclave has been a point of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan for decades. With the main parties being two conflicting sovereign states and the "de facto state" of Nagorno Karabakh, the conflict has grown into one of the world's most persistent and complex confrontations and has entered a new phase of reality following the second war. For this reason, it is critical to examine peace prospects and the likelihood of finding a solution for the state of NK. This thesis examines peace possibilities following the second Karabakh war and the practicality of three conflict management tools: power-sharing, division, and territorial autonomy, using a rationalist perspective as the main theory. The principal objective of this thesis has been to study the research findings and determine if they met my expectations and how well they fit into the framework I constructed in the beginning. This paper concisely addressed the core research question, ensuring that the reader comprehends the central point and contribution of my study. The preliminary results of my research indicate that the unwillingness of the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides to find a compromise acceptable to all sides stemming from a lack of trust and the Azerbaijani government's consolidated and hegemonic authoritarian attitudes complicate the bargaining process. However, any possible agreement considering the interests of all parties in the framework of new realities will lead to peace in the region, strengthen regional integration, and restore economic ties between the two countries.
EU influence on environmental politics in the post-Soviet space: a comparison of Armenia and Georgia
(Tartu Ülikool, 2021) Worsch, Laura; Braghiroli, Stefano, juhendaja; Hoppe, Sebastian, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
Although environmental governance has long been one of the EU’s priorities in the Eastern Neighbourhood Programme, the amounts of EU funding that were invested in Armenia and Georgia seem to only weakly correlate with their environmental performances. This master thesis hence deals with the question, why EU mechanisms aiming at environmental politics in post-Soviet countries are in some cases more effective than in others. The focus lies on the processes of EU cooperation and communication on the theoretical basis of external governance, comparing the two cases Georgia and Armenia. The hypothesis states that it is more likely for the EU to have a sustainable impact on a country’s environmental politics when it has a strong hierarchical governance. The research consists of the qualitative assessment of expert interviews with environmental actors in Georgia and Armenia. Major findings include that the EU’s cooperation patterns differ towards different national actors, to the general detriment of environmental NGOs. This creates the request for more institutional and reliable support by the EU.
The image of the Nagorno-Karabakh war: a discourse analysis
(Tartu Ülikool, 2021) Wong, Tsz Hin; Berg, Eiki, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
The objective of this paper is to understand the image of the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020 from a constructivist perspective. It aims to provide insights on how ‘war’ can be a subject constructed by norms and meanings. More specifically, we pay attention on the role of the Internet and social media platforms in constructing the war image. This research conducts a discourse analysis within Laclau and Mouffe’s theoretical framework of discourse. By deconstructing the storylines from government officials, think tanks and social communities through official websites, Twitter and Facebook, we are able to form the narratives of both sides which present the overall image of this war. The result illustrates that the narratives of both sides are contradicting with each other based on their different beliefs, values and the otherness they applied in their storylines.
Promoting gender equality in the neighbourhood: the impact of domestic constraints on European Union induced domestic change in Armenia and Georgia
(Tartu Ülikool, 2020) Pino, Ode Liis; Linsenmaier, Thomas, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
The Master’s thesis examines the European Union’s promotion of gender equality through its neighbourhood policy. More specifically, it focuses on the Eastern dimension of the neighbourhood, the Eastern Partnership, and explores neighbourhood Europeanisation in the context of gender equality reforms. Previous research on Europeanisation has signalled that concerning gender equality, domestic factors are the most influential in regard to European Union influenced domestic change. Therefore, the thesis aims to investigate this observation by determining the impact of domestic constraints on the ability of European Union conditionality to induce domestic change in the context of gender equality reforms. To investigate this, the thesis compares the cases of Armenia and Georgia while triangulating data primarily from official documents, backed by interview data and data from secondary sources. Comparing levels of European Union conditionality, domestic constraints, and domestic change in the context of European Union promoted gender equality reforms in both Armenia and Georgia, the study finds that domestic veto-players such as the church and conservative groups, misperceptions on gender, and gender stereotypes are the domestic constraints that affect domestic change in the context of European Union promoted gender equality reforms. Studying these domestic constraints, the thesis makes the observation that domestic constraints hinder domestic change in the context of European Union promoted gender equality reforms; however, the constraints are only able to lower the level of domestic change but not completely stop it. As a result, the research finds that European Union conditionality would be more effective in inducing domestic change in the context of European Union promoted gender equality reforms if there were fewer or no domestic constraints as the domestic constraints decrease the level of domestic change by delaying the adoption of gender equality reforms.
What explains alignment? Armenian-Iranian cooperation in the context of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
(Tartu Ülikool, 2017) Hovakimyan, Ani; Berg, Eiki, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
Armenian-Iranian alignment in the context of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of the fields in the International Relations that lack research and proper attention. Given the role of Iran both in regional and global terms and the geographical location of Armenia on the chessboard of interests of the international players, this is a topic that should be addressed properly. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Iran tried to establish diplomatic relations with newly independent South Caucasus Republics that included both Armenia and Azerbaijan. However, the dissolution of the Soviet Union was accompanied by bloody conflicts. One of those conflicts was Nagorno-Karabakh over which Armenia and Azerbaijan were fighting and it was taking place right in the Iranian neighbourhood. Iran tried to take a position which would secure its borders and not present a threat to its national security. The general perception is that in NK conflict Iran is backing Armenia, a Christian country, instead of Azerbaijan-a Shia Muslim country. In order to understand the logic of Iranian foreign policy, a multi-dimensional analysis was made. The thesis approached the topic from the perspective of the Constructivist paradigm of alliance theory and compared/contrasted it with the Realist/Neorealist thinking. The analysis of the empirical part was based on the National Security Strategy Documents of the two states, research of local and foreign experts both in academic sources and media, and the conducted interviews with Armenian experts and diplomats. So, by applying the theoretical part to the empirical part, the thesis argues that the Constructivist theory is capable of addressing how Iranian national interests resulted in the alignment with the Armenia, while other approaches of alliance theory would have predicted something different.

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