Counting People Makes them Count Richard Rose
von Social Science in the Caucasus von HansG
Richard Rose, a renowned specialists in the field of Social Capital, is currently visiting Georgia to deliver trainings at CRRC. He offered a public lecture setting out the case for conducting surveys, and entitled "Counting People Helps Make People Count". Not that we needed convincing, but we still enjoyed the way the argument was set out.
Tourism: Structure and Cost-sharing
von Social Science in the Caucasus von HansG
A slightly specialized topic: what's the cost of tourism? Often suggested as a way of developing parts of the South Caucasus, especially Georgia, quickly, it's interesting to take a quick look, since in tourism many factors interact: business, environment, architecture, urban planning, societal habits, local versus national government, local and foreign expectations, and the challenge of reconciling all of those.
Social Science in the Caucasus: Georgian Borderlands Mathijs Pelkmans
von Social Science in the Caucasus von AaronE
Social Science in the Caucasus: Georgian Borderlands Mathijs Pelkmans
Philanthropy in Georgia
von Social Science in the Caucasus von Nana
Corporate Social Responsibility, a fashionable issue, is becoming a topic in the South Caucasus as well. CRRC research fellow, Giorgi Meladze, explored Georgian corporations’ generosity in his research undertaken in 2006.
Intravenous Drug Users in Tbilisi Survey Data
von Social Science in the Caucasus von AaronE
As part of a four part series, Save the Children in cooperation with a host of other organizations have released reports from survey data they have collected from Female Sex Workers (FSWs) and Intravenous Drug Users (IDUs). All of the surveys are funded by USAID. This entry reviews the Tbilisi report on IDUs. If you are interested in the other reports, please contact us.
Carnegie Research Fellowship Program!
von Social Science in the Caucasus von HansG
CRRC is happy to announce the Carnegie Research Fellowship Program. The program offers exceptional social science research opportunities in the United States for scholars from the Caucasus.
Book Review The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict and Nationhood in the Caucasus Christoph Zürcher
von Social Science in the Caucasus von AaronE
The earliest books that came out about the Caucasus after the collapse of the Soviet Union were firsthand accounts of events. Now, a second spate of books, which attempt to apply analytical frameworks to the turbulent events that occurred have the breakup of the Soviet Union are beginning to appear. Christoph Zürcher’s The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict and Nationhood in the Caucasus, published with New York University Press, falls into this category. The book examines where wars occurred in the Caucasus (Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Chechnya) and where they didn’t (Dagestan and Ajara) and places those cases studies within the context of the international quantitative literature that attempts to explain why internal wars occur.
Georgian Borderlands Mathijs Pelkmans
von Social Science in the Caucasus von AaronE
Many social researchers working on the Caucasus bemoan the lack of good scholarly works on the region. However, one recent book, which is both excellent and readable, seems to have fallen under people's radars -- Mathijs Pelkmans' Defending the Border: Identity, Religion, and Modernity in the Republic of Georgia, which came out in 2006 with Cornell University Press.
Showing posts with label Christoph Zürcher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christoph Zürcher. Show all posts
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
BOOK REVIEW: The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict and Nationhood in the Caucasus. By Christoph Zürcher
Gebundene Ausgabe: 285 Seiten
Verlag: New York Univ Pr; Auflage: illustrated edition (15. Dezember 2007)
Sprache: Englisch
ISBN-10: 0814797091
ISBN-13: 978-0814797099
Größe und/oder Gewicht: 22,9 x 15,5 x 2,5 cm
Kurzbeschreibung "The Post-Soviet Wars" is a comparative account of the organized violence in the Caucusus region, looking at four key areas: Chechnya, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Dagestan. Zurcher's goal is to understand the origin and nature of the violence in these regions, the response and suppression from the post-Soviet regime and the resulting outcomes, all with an eye toward understanding why some conflicts turned violent, whereas others not. Notably, in Dagestan actual violent conflict has not erupted, an exception of political stability for the region. The book provides a brief history of the region, particularly the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting changes that took place in the wake of this toppling. Zurcher carefully looks at the conditions within each region - economic, ethnic, religious, and political - to make sense of why some turned to violent conflict and some did not and what the future of the region might portend. This important volume provides both an overview of the region that is both up-to-date and comprehensive as well as an accessible understanding of the current scholarship on mobilization and violence.
Synopsis "The Post-Soviet Wars" is a comparative account of the organized violence in the Caucusus region, looking at four key areas: Chechnya, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Dagestan. Zurcher's goal is to understand the origin and nature of the violence in these regions, the response and suppression from the post-Soviet regime and the resulting outcomes, all with an eye toward understanding why some conflicts turned violent, whereas others not. Notably, in Dagestan actual violent conflict has not erupted, an exception of political stability for the region. The book provides a brief history of the region, particularly the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting changes that took place in the wake of this toppling. Zurcher carefully looks at the conditions within each region - economic, ethnic, religious, and political - to make sense of why some turned to violent conflict and some did not and what the future of the region might portend. This important volume provides both an overview of the region that is both up-to-date and comprehensive as well as an accessible understanding of the current scholarship on mobilization and violence.
Georgian Times , February 25: The earliest books that came out about the Caucasus after the collapse of the Soviet Union were firsthand accounts of events. Now, a second spate of books, which attempts to apply analytical frameworks to the turbulent events that occurred after the breakup of the Soviet Union, are beginning to appear. Christoph Zürcher’s The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict and Nationhood in the Caucasus falls into this category. The book examines where in the Caucasus wars occurred (Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Chechnya) and where they didn’t (Dagestan and Ajara) and places those case studies within the context of international quantitative literature that attempts to explain why internal wars occur.
Those who are knowledgeable about the Caucasus will find much information they have already come across. However, for those interested in international conflict who possess little regional understanding, the tersely written detail provides a good overview.
To whet your appetite for some of the details about why wars started in the Caucasus, Zürcher argues that, in Georgia, anti-Soviet rhetoric allowed for no maintenance of Soviet institutions, increasing the likelihood of conflict, since state institutions utterly collapsed as a result. Furthermore, the fallback on nationalist rhetoric, which was seen as the only way of creating a cohesive political force, then alienated both Abkhaz and Ossetians. Zürcher, perhaps controversially, also claims that Armenian politics looked very similar to Baltic politics (and different from Georgian and Chechen) in that the same type of state weakness did not exist. However, Zürcher makes the claim, which has been echoed in much of the democratization commentary about Armenia, that instead of the Baltic states’ orientation towards Europe, Armenia’s politicians unified around war in Nagorno-Karabakh, creating an anti-reform minded regime.
From a more technical standpoint, the book is a rare breed within political science literature, as it is specifically concerned about testing existing theories about internal wars by examining a series of case studies. In doing so, the volume seeks to refine those theories. While this type of book is out of vogue because the academic nomenklatura does not perceive the endeavor as groundbreaking, it serves an important role in refining theories, something Zürcher does throughout the book.
So what does Zürcher find in relationship to the international quantitative literature? Several variables that are generally cited as determinants of internal war do not appear to hold true in the Caucasus: low economic development and mountainous terrain do not help in explaining the conflagrations in the Caucasus. Despite the Caucasus being mountainous, most conflicts occurred in urban environs or in the plains. In the conflicts where mountains played a role, the guerillas (which conflict theory supposes are aided by mountains) had the mountains against them. In fact, Zürcher seeks to refine the theory about the relationship between mountains and war and suggests several plausible alternative hypotheses, part of the intellectual merit of the book. One interesting hypothesis is that mountains are a proxy for the cheap recruitment of male soldiers, since mountainous areas often have high unemployment rates and hence a male population ready to mobilize.
The volume also reinforces the idea found in the international quantitative literature that states that weakness often plays an important role – perhaps much more so than underdevelopment – as does the role of one ethnic group constituting the majority of the population. This ethnicity argument is well-highlighted in Zürcher’s case study of Dagestan, where ethnicity did not play the same role as in Georgia, Armenia or Chechnya, in part because of the fact that no ethnic group had a majority.
Overall, this reviewer found the findings sound, but would have like to see more analysis of some of the interesting proxy variables discussed above. This, however, could form the basis of a new and fruitful conflict research agenda in the Caucasus.
AmazonShop: Books, Maps, Videos, Music & Gifts About The Caucasus
Verlag: New York Univ Pr; Auflage: illustrated edition (15. Dezember 2007)
Sprache: Englisch
ISBN-10: 0814797091
ISBN-13: 978-0814797099
Größe und/oder Gewicht: 22,9 x 15,5 x 2,5 cm
Kurzbeschreibung "The Post-Soviet Wars" is a comparative account of the organized violence in the Caucusus region, looking at four key areas: Chechnya, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Dagestan. Zurcher's goal is to understand the origin and nature of the violence in these regions, the response and suppression from the post-Soviet regime and the resulting outcomes, all with an eye toward understanding why some conflicts turned violent, whereas others not. Notably, in Dagestan actual violent conflict has not erupted, an exception of political stability for the region. The book provides a brief history of the region, particularly the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting changes that took place in the wake of this toppling. Zurcher carefully looks at the conditions within each region - economic, ethnic, religious, and political - to make sense of why some turned to violent conflict and some did not and what the future of the region might portend. This important volume provides both an overview of the region that is both up-to-date and comprehensive as well as an accessible understanding of the current scholarship on mobilization and violence.
Synopsis "The Post-Soviet Wars" is a comparative account of the organized violence in the Caucusus region, looking at four key areas: Chechnya, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Dagestan. Zurcher's goal is to understand the origin and nature of the violence in these regions, the response and suppression from the post-Soviet regime and the resulting outcomes, all with an eye toward understanding why some conflicts turned violent, whereas others not. Notably, in Dagestan actual violent conflict has not erupted, an exception of political stability for the region. The book provides a brief history of the region, particularly the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting changes that took place in the wake of this toppling. Zurcher carefully looks at the conditions within each region - economic, ethnic, religious, and political - to make sense of why some turned to violent conflict and some did not and what the future of the region might portend. This important volume provides both an overview of the region that is both up-to-date and comprehensive as well as an accessible understanding of the current scholarship on mobilization and violence.
Georgian Times , February 25: The earliest books that came out about the Caucasus after the collapse of the Soviet Union were firsthand accounts of events. Now, a second spate of books, which attempts to apply analytical frameworks to the turbulent events that occurred after the breakup of the Soviet Union, are beginning to appear. Christoph Zürcher’s The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict and Nationhood in the Caucasus falls into this category. The book examines where in the Caucasus wars occurred (Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Chechnya) and where they didn’t (Dagestan and Ajara) and places those case studies within the context of international quantitative literature that attempts to explain why internal wars occur.
Those who are knowledgeable about the Caucasus will find much information they have already come across. However, for those interested in international conflict who possess little regional understanding, the tersely written detail provides a good overview.
To whet your appetite for some of the details about why wars started in the Caucasus, Zürcher argues that, in Georgia, anti-Soviet rhetoric allowed for no maintenance of Soviet institutions, increasing the likelihood of conflict, since state institutions utterly collapsed as a result. Furthermore, the fallback on nationalist rhetoric, which was seen as the only way of creating a cohesive political force, then alienated both Abkhaz and Ossetians. Zürcher, perhaps controversially, also claims that Armenian politics looked very similar to Baltic politics (and different from Georgian and Chechen) in that the same type of state weakness did not exist. However, Zürcher makes the claim, which has been echoed in much of the democratization commentary about Armenia, that instead of the Baltic states’ orientation towards Europe, Armenia’s politicians unified around war in Nagorno-Karabakh, creating an anti-reform minded regime.
From a more technical standpoint, the book is a rare breed within political science literature, as it is specifically concerned about testing existing theories about internal wars by examining a series of case studies. In doing so, the volume seeks to refine those theories. While this type of book is out of vogue because the academic nomenklatura does not perceive the endeavor as groundbreaking, it serves an important role in refining theories, something Zürcher does throughout the book.
So what does Zürcher find in relationship to the international quantitative literature? Several variables that are generally cited as determinants of internal war do not appear to hold true in the Caucasus: low economic development and mountainous terrain do not help in explaining the conflagrations in the Caucasus. Despite the Caucasus being mountainous, most conflicts occurred in urban environs or in the plains. In the conflicts where mountains played a role, the guerillas (which conflict theory supposes are aided by mountains) had the mountains against them. In fact, Zürcher seeks to refine the theory about the relationship between mountains and war and suggests several plausible alternative hypotheses, part of the intellectual merit of the book. One interesting hypothesis is that mountains are a proxy for the cheap recruitment of male soldiers, since mountainous areas often have high unemployment rates and hence a male population ready to mobilize.
The volume also reinforces the idea found in the international quantitative literature that states that weakness often plays an important role – perhaps much more so than underdevelopment – as does the role of one ethnic group constituting the majority of the population. This ethnicity argument is well-highlighted in Zürcher’s case study of Dagestan, where ethnicity did not play the same role as in Georgia, Armenia or Chechnya, in part because of the fact that no ethnic group had a majority.
Overall, this reviewer found the findings sound, but would have like to see more analysis of some of the interesting proxy variables discussed above. This, however, could form the basis of a new and fruitful conflict research agenda in the Caucasus.
AmazonShop: Books, Maps, Videos, Music & Gifts About The Caucasus
Saturday, December 01, 2007
EINLADUNG: Diskussion zur politischen Lage in Georgien
Freitag am 21. Dezember, um 12.oo Uhr, im Veranstaltungsraum der Roa Luxemburg Stiftung (Franz Mehring Platz 1, 10243 Berlin)
Liebe Studierende und Interessenten,
im Bezug auf unsere Überlegung mit Gaios und Gura zur Veranstaltung einer Podiumsdiskussion in Berlin über die jetzige politische Unruhe in Georgien lasse ich euch die nötigen Infos zukommen.
Es geht demnach um die jetzige politische Lage in Georgien, was eine große Resonanz sowohl in Deutschland als auch in der internationalen politischen Landschaft hervorgerufen hat.
Zu dem haben wir Herr Dr. phil. Uwe Halbach von der Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik eingeladen, der bereits seine Zusage zur Teilnahme an der Diskussion erteilt hat. Sein Artikel vom 9.11.2007 aus der ZEIT hat uns auf die Idee gebracht, ihn als Experte zu dieser Diskussion einzuladen.
Zudem sind Dr. Oliver Reisner, Beauftragter der EU-Delegation in Georgien und Prof. Dr. Christoph Zürcher vom Otto-Suhr-Institut für Politikwissenschaft an der FU Berlin eingeladen.
Bitte macht euch Gedanken, wenn wir noch einladen könnten, dass wäre eine gute Gelegenheit, richtig rege Diskussionsrunde zu Stande zu bringen.
Vielleicht könnten wir noch Walentin Falin, Botschafter der Sowjetunion der Bundesrepublik Deutschland von 1971 bis 1978 dazu einladen, wobei das mir kaum möglich erscheint
Der Linkverweis auf die Kontaktadressen der ReferentInnen:
Dr. phil. Uwe Halbach
Prof. Dr. Christoph Zürcher / spiegel.de >>>
Dr. Oliver Reisner
Kontakt: Nana Chanishvili
Liebe Studierende und Interessenten,
im Bezug auf unsere Überlegung mit Gaios und Gura zur Veranstaltung einer Podiumsdiskussion in Berlin über die jetzige politische Unruhe in Georgien lasse ich euch die nötigen Infos zukommen.
Es geht demnach um die jetzige politische Lage in Georgien, was eine große Resonanz sowohl in Deutschland als auch in der internationalen politischen Landschaft hervorgerufen hat.
Zu dem haben wir Herr Dr. phil. Uwe Halbach von der Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik eingeladen, der bereits seine Zusage zur Teilnahme an der Diskussion erteilt hat. Sein Artikel vom 9.11.2007 aus der ZEIT hat uns auf die Idee gebracht, ihn als Experte zu dieser Diskussion einzuladen.
Zudem sind Dr. Oliver Reisner, Beauftragter der EU-Delegation in Georgien und Prof. Dr. Christoph Zürcher vom Otto-Suhr-Institut für Politikwissenschaft an der FU Berlin eingeladen.
Bitte macht euch Gedanken, wenn wir noch einladen könnten, dass wäre eine gute Gelegenheit, richtig rege Diskussionsrunde zu Stande zu bringen.
Vielleicht könnten wir noch Walentin Falin, Botschafter der Sowjetunion der Bundesrepublik Deutschland von 1971 bis 1978 dazu einladen, wobei das mir kaum möglich erscheint
Der Linkverweis auf die Kontaktadressen der ReferentInnen:
Dr. phil. Uwe Halbach
Prof. Dr. Christoph Zürcher / spiegel.de >>>
Dr. Oliver Reisner
Kontakt: Nana Chanishvili
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Christoph Zürcher: Osteuropa-Institut / Freie Universität Berlin
Hier finden sie auch wissenschaftliche Texte zur Konfliktforschung im Kaukasus. weiter>>>
Zuercher, Christoph und Koehler, Jan (Hrsg.) 2003: Potentials of (Dis)order. Explaining Conflikt and Stability in the Caucasus and in the former Yugoslavia, Manchester, Manchester University Press
* Contents
* Koehler, Jan; Zuercher, Christoph: Introduction
* Koehler, Jan; Zuercher, Christoph: The Art of Losing State: Weak Empire to Weak Nation State Around Nagorno-Karabakh
* Elwert, Georg: Interventions in Markets of Violence
* Koehler, Jan; Zuercher, Christoph: Institutions and the Organisation of Stability and Violence
Buch kaufen bei Amazon oder UP Manchester
Arbeitspapiere des Bereiches Politik und Gesellschaft des Osteuropainstitutes der FU Berlin
* Zuercher, Christoph 1998: aus der Ostmoderne in die Postmoderne. Zum Wandel in der früheren Sowjetunion, Arbeitspapiere des Osteuropainstituts der Freien Universität Berlin, 17.
* Zuercher, Christoph 1997: Krieg und Frieden in Tschetschenien. Ursachen, Symbole, Interessen, Arbeitspapiere des Osteuropainstituts der Freien Universität Berlin, 2.
Berliner Osteuropa-Info
* Zuercher, Christoph und Koehler, Jan 2001, 'Institutions and Organized Violence in Post-Socialist Countries', Berliner Osteuropa-Info: 17, 48-53.
* Zuercher, Christoph 2000, 'In den Kreml via Grozny: Putins Krieg in Tschetschenien', Berliner Osteuropa-Info: 14, 38-41.
* Zuercher Christoph 1998, 'Das Schauspiel der Kulturen am Ende der Moderne oder: Die Retraditionalisierung in der Früheren Sowjetunion', Berliner Osteuropa Info, 11: 48-52.
* Zuercher, Christoph 1998, 'Grenzerfahrungen in Kaukasien - eine Politimpression', Berliner Osteuropa-Info 10/1998, 10, 70-72.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Christoph Zürcher, PD
Osteuropa-Institut der FU Berlin
Gary-Strasse 55
14195 Berlin
Raum 218
Tel.: +49 30 83853616
Fax: +49 30 83853788
Email: zuercher@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Zuercher, Christoph und Koehler, Jan (Hrsg.) 2003: Potentials of (Dis)order. Explaining Conflikt and Stability in the Caucasus and in the former Yugoslavia, Manchester, Manchester University Press
* Contents
* Koehler, Jan; Zuercher, Christoph: Introduction
* Koehler, Jan; Zuercher, Christoph: The Art of Losing State: Weak Empire to Weak Nation State Around Nagorno-Karabakh
* Elwert, Georg: Interventions in Markets of Violence
* Koehler, Jan; Zuercher, Christoph: Institutions and the Organisation of Stability and Violence
Buch kaufen bei Amazon oder UP Manchester
Arbeitspapiere des Bereiches Politik und Gesellschaft des Osteuropainstitutes der FU Berlin
* Zuercher, Christoph 1998: aus der Ostmoderne in die Postmoderne. Zum Wandel in der früheren Sowjetunion, Arbeitspapiere des Osteuropainstituts der Freien Universität Berlin, 17.
* Zuercher, Christoph 1997: Krieg und Frieden in Tschetschenien. Ursachen, Symbole, Interessen, Arbeitspapiere des Osteuropainstituts der Freien Universität Berlin, 2.
Berliner Osteuropa-Info
* Zuercher, Christoph und Koehler, Jan 2001, 'Institutions and Organized Violence in Post-Socialist Countries', Berliner Osteuropa-Info: 17, 48-53.
* Zuercher, Christoph 2000, 'In den Kreml via Grozny: Putins Krieg in Tschetschenien', Berliner Osteuropa-Info: 14, 38-41.
* Zuercher Christoph 1998, 'Das Schauspiel der Kulturen am Ende der Moderne oder: Die Retraditionalisierung in der Früheren Sowjetunion', Berliner Osteuropa Info, 11: 48-52.
* Zuercher, Christoph 1998, 'Grenzerfahrungen in Kaukasien - eine Politimpression', Berliner Osteuropa-Info 10/1998, 10, 70-72.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Christoph Zürcher, PD
Osteuropa-Institut der FU Berlin
Gary-Strasse 55
14195 Berlin
Raum 218
Tel.: +49 30 83853616
Fax: +49 30 83853788
Email: zuercher@zedat.fu-berlin.de
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