Nagorno-Karabakh: Why do Peace Processes Fail ‘From the Inside’?

Abstract

The leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and the representatives of the OSCE announced in Paris, in January 2019, the irm intention to move forward for a peace compromise on the longstanding con lict in Nagorno-Karabakh. The prospect of peace however triggered anxieties among the Armenians fearful of losing the territories gained in war, as well as among the inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh, while the Azerbaijanis maintain that any future peace compromise cannot start without the withdrawal of the Armenian forces from these lands. Peace became a source of anxiety and entrenched attachment to old narratives overcame, for the moment, the optimist rhetoric shift of state leaders. The article thus looks into the possible reasons for a peace process to fail 'from the inside', to be rejected by the very populations affected by an abiding con lict, bringing insides from cognitive approaches to con lict and security, namely from the ontological security body of literature to this purpose.