E2: Interdependencies between Global and Local Levels in Conflict Mediation and Trust Building in Regional Conflicts

Dr. Nadja Douglas (ZOiS)

Regional conflicts in the territory of the former Soviet Union are the result of processes of disintegration and disentanglement at the local and regional level, but have also been significantly shaped by sweeping changes in the geopolitical order. These changed framework conditions not only have an impact on the conflicts themselves, but also on the way conflicts are handled.

Therefore, the project will shed light on the dynamics and interdependencies between the international and local levels and develop a testable hypothesis on how the former affects the latter in the context of confidence-building measures. The starting point is an ongoing study on the case of Transnistria, in which the broad spectrum of confidence-building measures (CBM) as well as the success or failure of individual measures are examined retrospectively. A particular focus will be placed on the economy and trade on the one hand, and security policy and military transparency on the other. One of the goals of the project is to build a data collection on CBMs in the context of regional conflicts.

• Document analysis
• Process tracing of CBMs
• Qualitative interviews
• Analysis of co-variances of events on the local and international level

Building Confidence and Fostering Societal Dialogue: Insights from Armenia and Azerbaijan