Novikova: ‘Security in the South Caucasus’

JULY 9, 2009 * NOVIKOVA: ‘SECURITY IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS’. Dr. Gayane Novikova, the founder and director of the Spectrum Center for Strategic Analysis in Yerevan, and a Fulbright Research Scholar at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, will give a lecture on “The 2008 Five-Day War and Shifts in Security in the South Caucasus” at the National Association for Armenian Studies (NAASR) Center in Belmont, Mass. The South Caucasus has been characterized as one of the most unstable regions of post-Soviet space since the early 1990’s. The insecurity reached its latest peak in August 2008 when military actions on Georgian territory caused drastic changes in the configuration of the security structure in the South Caucasus and illuminated the role and importance of each regional and non-regional actor. The status quo established after the Five-Day War will be determined in the medium-term by the following factors: the final withdrawal of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from the jurisdiction of Georgia, Russia’s additional political and military leverage in the region, Azerbaijan’s continued policy of complementarity, Turkey’s attempted use of this crisis to increase its overall role in the region, and Armenia’s attempts to emphasize its presence in international politics and increase its significance for external actors, trying thereby to balance Russian influence. Novikova is an experienced researcher in the security and politics of Armenia and the South Caucasus. She has served at the Department of Arabic Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (1978-2000) and the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (1994-2000). The author of more than 60 articles and 4 monographs, she is also the editor of 12 collections of articles published by the Center for Strategic Analysis. She is currently carrying out research on the “South Caucasus Between Russia and the West.” The event is free and open to the public. Begins at 8 p.m. at NAASR, 395 Concord Ave. in Belmont, opposite the First Armenian Church and next to the U.S. post office. For more information, call (617) 489-1610 or email hq@naasr.org.