Territorial Shock and Fragmented Geopolitical Culture: The New Geography of Armenia and Siunik

Wars are moments of significant rupture for states, societies, and economies. Wars where one state suffers significant territorial losses can be particularly challenging for states, their power structures, and the prevailing visions and identities in their geopolitical cultures. How states react to territorial losses is a compelling area for research. The recent experiences of the Republic of Armenia present a rich case study in how states adjust to territorial change. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the establishment of an independent Armenian state was accompanied by war over a disputed territory with neighbouring Azerbaijan. By the time of the cease-fire of the First Karabakh War in 1994, Armenia held its own territory and strongly supported the Armenian-populated unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. "Karabakh is ours", which served as a long-standing slogan of the geopolitical culture of Armenia, was shattered as a result of the Second Karabakh War of 2020, during which Azerbaijani forces gained control over considerable territory. The status quo after the war had notable impact on the province of Siunik in southern Armenia as well. This dissertation is a study in the aftermath of territorial shock, looking to the framework of geopolitical culture and the category of the geo-body to account for the developments in Armenia generally and in Siunik in particular since 2020. Drawing on the literature of critical geopolitics as well as fieldwork conducted in Armenia, the dissertation argues that the shock and trauma of the war has caused deep disruption and fragmentation in the geopolitical culture of Armenia, which remains in crisis. There are disputed and competing territorial visions of the country, some of which are manifested as centre-periphery distinctions between the capital Yerevan and the province of Siunik. The strong local identity of the province serves as a basis to look to ideological tropes of nationalist imaginations as a coping mechanism while facing precarious circumstances. Material geographical realities and discursive or ideological imaginations continue to be in tension in Armenia, especially in Siunik.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Planning, Governance, and Globalization

Department dc:contributor.department

Public Administration/Public Affairs

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Seferian, Nareg

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Toal, Gerard

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Ahram, Ariel I.
• Suny, Ronald
• Peters, Joel

• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Nagorno-Karabakh
• Siunik
• Geopolitical Culture
• Geo-Body
• Territorial Shock
• Borders
• Territory

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:36624

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/114109