Defining borders of identity: Armenian leadership navigating the aftermath of the second Nagorno-Karabakh War and loss of Nagorno-Karabakh

Abstract

The thesis investigates the aftermath of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020 and the Loss of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 through analysing the changing rhetoric of Armenia’s leadership around the geopolitical imaginaries of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The new status-quo around Nagorno-Karabakh has introduced challenges for Armenia’s leadership, which had to navigate the loss of a space that has been a pillar of Armenian national identity, as the recent geopolitical reconstructions in the region implied that the old identity narrations have lost its coherence. The thesis employed thematic analysis of the Armenian Prime Minister’s speeches between August 2019 and April 2024, complemented by semi-structured expert interviews. Findings show that the Armenian leadership creates a new vision of Armenia as Armenia without Karabakh but with a future despite the difficult past, Armenia with defined borders of homeland and state, prioritising civic identity over ethnic, and finally as a state that does not need an external protector. It further shows that the political legitimacy of the Armenian leadership has become increasingly fragile, and the new identity narrations introduced by the government have become a subject of both scepticism and faith. By making a broader contribution to the field of critical geopolitics, the results illustrate a broader struggle of a small, post-Soviet state, navigating a post-conflict setting and long security dependence on Russia.