Description
Starting in the late 80’s and continuing with the dissolution of the USSR, both Georgia and Azerbaijan experienced separatist conflicts which led them to lose control over a portion of their internationally recognized territory. The conflicts in Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh each caused between 20.000-30.000 casualties and hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
The domestic publics of the two countries reacted very differently to these devastating events. For Azerbaijanis the conflict was arguably more traumatic, and most people developed extremely negative emotions towards Armenians. Instead, for Georgians the conflicts were arguably less traumatic, and most people did not develop such extremely negative emotions towards Abkhazians and Russians. While the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was relatively more devastating than the Abkhazian conflict, the conflict differences alone are not so great to justify such different public attitudes. Thus, a deeper understanding of why the conflict was more traumatic for Azerbaijanis than for Georgians, and how emotions grip people to their beliefs is required.
With this research, I am therefore analysing in a comparative way why we observe such vast and persistent different post-conflict attitudes between Georgians and Azerbaijanis. In terms of literature, I combine the literature on trauma and emotions in international relations (Hutchinson, Bleiker, Mercer, Crawford, Koschut, Kaufman, Halperin, etc.) with more psychoanalytical literature (Laclau, Glynos, Stavrakakis, J. Y. Hor, Eberle, Alford etc.). Methodologically, I am conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with IDPs and the broader public to understand their beliefs and emotions, whether they feel traumatized, and what implications these emotions and traumas have on identities and meanings. Moreover, the research also investigates how hatred grips the beliefs and identities of individuals more so than anger, fear and resentment. The research should, thus, shed some light on the functioning of trauma and emotions in post-conflict settings.
