Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh: An Asymmetric Informal Confederation

Abstract

The article is based on a presumption that the relations between the
Armenian and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic are substantially different
from the relations between other de facto states and their patron states.
Thus, they can not be explained in the same manner as the relations
between Russia and its three “client” de facto states – Abkhazia, South
Ossetia, and Transnistria. Also, the concept of kin-state does not seem to be
su"ciently elaborated to explain the Armenian-Karabakhi relations. These
relations, in comparison with other similar cases, such as the Turkish-North
Cypriot relations, feature a whole range of highly specific features, above all
the dominance of informal institutions and practices. The article identifies
this complex systems of mutual relations and introduces the term informal
asymmetric confederation to describe it. According to this model, the
relations between the Armenian and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic are
based on a common ethno-cultural framework, mutually mingling political
elites and a handful of formal and, most importantly, a whole range of
informal mechanisms, which enable both entities to achieve political deals,
as well as to mutually influence each other’s internal decision making
processes.