Skip to Content

Search: {{$root.lsaSearchQuery.q}}, Page {{$root.page}}

Armenia/the South Caucasus and Foreign Policy Challenges

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2004

5:00-5:30 pm.- Opening remarks 
Prof. Gerard Libaridian, Department of' History, University of' Michigan, Ann Arbor

Introduction to the Conference

Prof. Mark Tessler, Vice-Provost for International Affairs; Director of the International Institute; Political Science Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

SESSION I

5:30-7:00 pm. – Evolving International Relations and the South Caucasus
Chair: Prof Gerard Libaridian

Dr. Vitaly Naumkin, Director, International Center for Strategic and Political Studies, Russia
“The South Caucasus: A New Geo-Political Paradigm"
Prof. Hadi Semati, International Relations Department, Tehran University Currently at the Carnegie Endowment j(;r International Peace, Washington. DC
"Dealing with Strategic Complexities: Security, Democracy and Economic Development in a Changing Region"
Prof. Michael Kennedy, Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
"Explicit and Implicit Trajectories of International Relations Since the Collapse of the USSR"

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2004

SESSION II

08:30- 10:30 am. – Armenian Foreign Policy in Historical Context
Chair: Prof Sonya Rose, Chairperson, Department of History, University of Michigan

Dr. Ashot Sargsyan, Senior Researcher in History, Matenadaran; Senior Archivist, President Ter-Petrossian Archives, Armenia
"Foreign Policy as a Derivative of a Value System"
Prof. Kevork Bardakjian, Near Eastern Studies Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
"Unifying the Armenian World? Armenia and Diaspora relations in Modern and Contemporary Times"
Prof. Ronald Suny, Department of' History, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
"Living in a Dangerous Neighborhood: Armenia's Foreign Relations in the Short Twentieth Century: 1918-1991"
Dr. Razmik Panossian, Director, Policy and Programs, Rights and Democracy, Montreal
"Foreign Policy and the Diaspora"

SESSION III

11:00 am -12:30 pm. – The World as Seen by the South Caucasus
Chair: Prof Bruno Coppieters, Free University of Brussels

Mr. lvlian Haindrava, Member of Parliament, Georgia
"The South Caucasus: Split Personalities"

Ambassador Rouben Shugarian, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Armenia
“The South Caucasus: Search for a New Identity”

SESSION IV

2:00 - 3:30 pm. - The South Caucasus as Seen by the Regional Powers
Chair: Prof. Charles King, Georgetown University

Prof. Hossein Seifzadeh, International Relations Department, Tehran University
“Conflicting Values and Interest: Iran’s Cautious, Pragmatic Approach to the South Caucasus”
Prof. Ahmet Han, International Relations Department, Bilgi University, Istanbul
“Turkish Foreign Policy in the South Caucasus: History vs. Real Politics”
Dr. Evgueny Kozhokin, Director, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, Moscow
“The Essence of Conflicts in the South Caucasus and Ways to Resolve Them”

SESSION V

4:00-5:30 pm. – The South Caucasus and Seen by the West
Chair: De Leila Alieva, Center for National and International Studies, Baku

Dr. Tamara Dragadze, Scholar, Lecturer, London
“The South Caucasus Through Western Eyes; a Fluid View”
Amb. Terhi Hakala, Ambassador of Finland to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
"Enhancing EU Relations with the South Caucasus"
Mr. John Fox, Director of' Caucasus and Central Asia Affairs, US Department of State
"The US Policy in the South Caucasus: The Evolving Challenge"

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2004

SESSION VI

8:30- 10:00 am. – The Impact of the South Caucasus on the Study of International Relations
Chair: Prof: Ahmet Han, Bilgi University, Istanbul

Prof. Charles King, Political Science Department, Georgetown University, Washington DC, "Theories and Realities in the South Caucasus"
Prof. Stephen Jones, Department of' Political Science, Mount Holyoke College
"Georgia: A Little Different, But Not Much"
Mr. As bed Kotchikian, Political Science, Boston University
"(Re)defining Small States: The South Caucasus in the New World Order"

SESSION VII

10:30 am- 12:30 noon- The World of Conflicts
Chair: Dr. Razmik Panossian, Rights and Democracy, Montreal

Dr. Ghia Nodia, Director, Center for Democracy and Peace, Tbilisi
"International Players and 'Frozen Conflicts:' Ways to Solution or Perpetuation"
Prof. Bruno Coppieters, Political Science Department, Free University of Brussels
"Georgia and Its neighbors: Weak Statehood and Shifting Center –Periphery Relations"
Mr. Arman Grigorian, International Relations, Columbia University/Wesleyan University
”The Fewer the Merrier: Why and When One Mediator is Better than Two or Three ... "
Mr. Tom de Waal, Author, Institute j(Jr War and Peace Studies, London
"Caucasian Conundrums: Internally Driven or Manipulated?"

SESSION VIII

2:00- 6:00 pm. Nagorno-Karabakh: A Case Study in Conflict Relation in the 1990s

Chair: Mr. Tom de Waal, Institute for War and Peace Studies, London

Ambassador Vladimir Kazimirov, Former Karabakh negotiator for Russia
“Alternative of Karabakh Settlement”
Ambassador Orner Ersun, Former Karabakh negotiator for Turkey, Istanbul (Retired)
"Why We Failed to Devise a Conclusive Peace Plan for the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict?"
Ambassador Joseph Presel, Former Karabakh negotiatorj for US, Washington DC (retired)
"Why the Minsk Process Failed"
Dr. Mahmood Vaezi, Deputy Director, Center for Strategic Research, Tehran; Former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Iran

3:30- 4:00 pm.

Ambassador Tofik Zulfugarov, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Karabakh conflict negotiator, Azerbaijan
"Armenia's Foreign Policy Toward Nagorno Karabagh: Critical View From Baku"
Ambassador David Shahnazaryan, Former Minister and Karabakh negotiator for Armenia
"New Challenges and Conflicts in the South Caucasus: The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict as the Key Conflict in the Region"

Special Presentation
Ashot Ghoulian
, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert
"The NKR Factor in the South Caucasus Region"

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2004

SESSION IX

9:00- 11 :00 am.- Reconciling the Past and the Future
Chair: Prof. Gerard Libaridian, University of Michigan

Dr. Leila Alieva, Center  for National and International Studies, Baku
"Post -Soviet Foreign Policy Strategies in the Caucasus"
Dr. Archil Gegeshidzc, Senior Research Fellow at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and
International Studies, Tbilisi; foreign policy adviser to former President E. Shevardnadze
“The South Caucasus: Politics and Interests of the Regional Actors"
Prof. Edward Walker, Political Science Department, University of California, Berkeley, "Globalization, Terrorism, and the Future of the Nation-State in the South Caucasus"