YEREVAN — The American University of Armenia (AUA) Turpanjian Institute of Social Sciences, directed by Dr. Stephan Astourian, is pleased to announce the hosting of the international conference titled “The South Caucasus Along Fault Lines: Regional and International Perspectives.” This two-day conference, to be held on April 18-19, 2025, will bring together 22 international scholars, analysts, and former diplomats, from countries stretching from China to the United States, to participate in five different sessions discussing various facets of the topic and a round table discussion about the prospects of peace in the short term.
At a time when the world seems to be moving from the early decades of post-Soviet unipolarity toward a complex form of multipolarity, conflicts have erupted, and tensions emerged from the Middle East to Ukraine, and from Ukraine to the South China Sea. The South Caucasus — historically a contact zone between and among various imperial civilizations (Persian, Slavic, Turkic), religions and denominations (Apostolic Christianity, Orthodox Christianity, Shia Islam, and Sunni Islam), and ethnolinguistic groups — is an area where both conflicts and tensions are nowadays visible. The South Caucasus has also been historically, and is currently, a strategic crossroads linking China and India with Western Asia and the seas adjacent to it. Today, it is highly significant for various vast transport and commercial projects originating, among others, in Central Asia, China, and India. The South Caucasus, finally, is at the frontline of tensions between democratizing countries — Armenia and Georgia — and what some have called their surrounding illiberal, “authoritarian axis” made up of varied regime types, such as the dynastic corrupt autocracy governing Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, or the personalist, corrupt authoritarian regimes of the Russian Federation and Türkiye.
The goal of this conference — bringing together well-known current or former diplomats, international relations analysts, and scholars — is to assess the current situation prevailing in the South Caucasus from both regional and international perspectives. Topics to be discussed include, but are not limited to, the following: the (endangered) prospects for continued democratization in Georgia and Armenia; the unresolved Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and the possibility of its (limited) resumption; the relative weakening — or at least the transformation — of Russia’s influence in the region ; the growing Russian-Azerbaijani rapprochement, if not strategic collaboration; the expanding role of Türkiye; the pragmatic yet tension-filled cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation; the European Union’s attempts to expand its influence; and the varying roles played by more distant powers such as China, India, and the United States.
Apart from established local and diaspora scholars and analysts, one speaker per relevant country or supranational organization will be invited.
The full list of speakers and panel discussions for the event is available on the official website of the Turpanjian Institute of Social Sciences, along with the complete program agenda. Conference registration is now open — secure your spot today by filling in this form.
International Conference
The South Caucasus Along Fault Lines: Regional and International Perspectives
American University of Armenia,
Friday, April 18 — Saturday, April 19, 2025
Alex and Marie Manoogian Hall, Paramaz Avedisian Building
