Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and Armenia-Azerbaijan Relations

This book examines the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and its aftermath, analysing the conflict through the lenses of war, sovereignty, power politics, international law, and unpeace, demonstrating how coercive diplomacy, conflict-persistence, and institutional failure reshaped the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and the regional order.

Combining international relations, security studies, legal analysis, and a wide range of empirically grounded analytical models, the book provides a rigorous framework for understanding the 2020 war, the geopolitical factors leading to it, the shifts in the region’s structure and security architecture, the humanitarian crisis, forced displacement, and the collapse of Nagorno-Karabakh. It meticulously explores not only the events that transpired, but also the underlying reasons behind them, the responses of international actors, regional players, and institutions, and the insights these reveal about the limitations of structural dependence, weak deterrence, ineffective mediation, lack of recognition, and accountability gaps in contemporary conflict.
The book is intended for scholars, students, and practitioners in international relations, conflict and security studies, post-Soviet politics, international law, peace and conflict studies, human rights, and Eurasian studies. It is also relevant for journalists, policymakers, and those working on conflict prevention, mediation, and regional security.

Dr. Nerses Kopalyan is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is the author of numerous scholarly books, numerous book chapters, academic journal articles, and mainstream publications. His research and publications concentrate on geopolitical and great power relations within Eurasia, with specific emphasis on small-state security and democratic resilience. He has conducted extensive field work in Armenia on the country’s foreign and security architecture and its democratization process.

Dr. Irina Ghaplanyan is a political scientist specializing in political transformations, governance, and sustainability in post-Soviet contexts. She served as Deputy Minister of Environment of Armenia and has worked extensively with international organizations, academic institutions, and think tanks. She is the author of scholarly books, book chapters, academic journal articles, and policy publications, and regularly serves as an adjunct lecturer at the American University of Armenia.