Who is entitled to ‘earn sovereignty'? Legitimacy and regime support in Abkhazia and Nagorno‐Karabakh

Abstract

Abkhazia and Nagorno‐Karabakh are internationally unrecognised political entities, or so‐called de facto states, that have emerged as a result of the incomplete and contested state‐formation of their parent states and of the secessionist movements that emerged in the power vacuum of the post‐Soviet space. In addition to examining the conventional reliance on the self‐determination principle, usually followed by a call for international recognition (as often practised by emerging sovereigns), this article aims to survey whether these political entities have proved that they embody ‘rightful authority’ as such and whether they ‘have earned their sovereignty’. In other words, it attempts to examine the self‐determination claims in Abkhazia and Nagorno‐Karabakh based on legitimacy criteria that are widely accepted for liberal democratic societies using an analysis of the respective issues as they were represented in focus‐group discussions in these two regions.

Conflict, Exclusion and Dissent in the Linguistic Landscape

“…It shares the fate of similar unrecognized territories in the former Soviet Union such as Transnistria as well as Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia (cf. Berg and Mölder, 2012). The politics of contemporary Karabak are largely influenced by its isolated status within the international community, expressed by demands for national self-determination and international recognition.…”

Convincing State-Builders? Disaggregating Internal Legitimacy in Abkhazia

“…Rather, we examine an important foundational question: What are the local perceptual factors that shape internal legitimacy in de facto states? While researchers have begun to measure internal legitimacy in de facto states (Berg ; Berg and Mölder ), there is need for conceptual debate about what internal legitimacy means, as well as theoretical thought about the perceptual variables shaping it.…”

De Facto States and Democracy: The Case of Abkhazia

“…It was during this second phase of research on de facto states when the democratisation-for-recognition strategy has been formulated (e.g. Broers, 2005;Popescu, 2006;Caspersen, 2009;Berg and Mölder, 2012;Kolstø and Blakkisrud, 2012). …”

“…A growing number of studies have dealt with the phenomenon of democratisation in de facto states since the second half of the first decade of the 21 st century, e.g., Protsyk (2009Protsyk ( , 2012 focused on democratisation in Transnistria, Azam (2013) on Somaliland, Kolstø and Blakkisrud (2012) on Nagorno-Karabakh, Smolnik (2012) on elections in Nagorno- Karabakh, von Steinsdorff (2012), von Steinsdorff and Fruhstorfer (2012), and Berg and Mölder (2012) focused on the comparison of democratic institutions and their legitimacies in de facto states in the post-Soviet area, Simão (2012) on the role of the EU in democracy promotion in de facto states. The presented article reflects in part the results of these studies, and at the same time, brings a new and detailed view of the examined topic.…”

“…One of them is the democratisation-for-recognition strategy, based on a conviction of de facto states representatives that the international community will recognise their political entities if they are democratic (e.g. Broers 2005;Popescu 2006;Caspersen 2009;Berg and Mölder 2012;Kolstø and Blakkisrud 2012).…”