After the war ends: Violence in Post-Soviet unrecognized states

Bakke, Kristin Marie (2019). After the war ends: Violence in Post-Soviet unrecognized states. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-851970

What happens after the fighting in intrastate conflicts officially ends? Peace settlements and military victories are assumed to bring an end to violence, yet they are often followed by high levels of crime and fighting among former enemies, even among former allies.

Questions about post-war violence are particularly important in so-called de facto states born out of violent struggles, as these are vulnerable entities in the international system from the very outset. De facto, or unrecognized, states lack international recognition but function as state-like entities in that they control the population within their territories. While de facto states have been features on the international scene for decades, the fall of the USSR and subsequent separatist conflicts gave rise to several such state-like entities - places like Abkhazia, Chechnya, Nagorno Karabkah, South Ossetia, and Transdniestria.

This study theorises and examines the causes and consequences of post-war violence within these de facto states. Based on statistical analyses of survey data, the study seeks to assess how the inhabitants’ experiences of criminal and political violence affect their views of the de facto states and their regimes. The study also aims to trace how the organisation and nature of war-time violence shapes post-war peace and stability (or lack thereof).

The survey conducted as part of this ESRC-funded project took place in Nagorno Karabakh in September 2013. For related research based on a similar survey carried out in another de facto state (funded by the National Science Foundation in the US), see Bakke, O’Loughlin, Toal, and Ward’s 2014 article in International Studies Quarterly on “Convincing State-Builders? Disaggregating Internal Legitimacy in Abkhazia". This is available via the related resources.

Data description (abstract)

The survey is part of the ESRC-funded project “After the War Ends: Violence in Post-Soviet Unrecognized States.” The overall project addresses the question, what happens after the fighting in intrastate conflicts officially ends? It hones in on post-war developments in so-called de facto, or unrecognized, states. The survey deposited here took place in Nagorno Karabakh in September 2013. Nagorno Karabakh is officially part of Azerbaijan, but it has functioned as a de facto state since the war with its “parent” state Azerbaijan in 1988-1993. The survey, which covers 1,000 respondents over the age of 18, asks people questions about their views on their present political, social, economic, and security situation, as well as their experiences of violence in the war of 1988-1993. The survey respondents were selected randomly from eight primary sampling units (the capital and the seven regions controlled by the Nagorno Karabakh authorities). Participation was entirely voluntary, and the survey responses are anonymous. The survey questions were asked in the respondents’ native tongue, by professionally trained interviewers. The survey was designed by the Dr. Bakke, based on surveys carried out elsewhere, and was commissioned to be carried out in the field by the Armenian Sociological Association.

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