Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Caucasus – History'

This dissertation is the first systematic study of Armenia’s foreign policy during the post-independence period, between 1991 and 2004. It argues that a small state’s foreign policy is best understood when looking at the regional level. Armenia’s geographic proximity to Iran, Russia and Turkey, places it in an area of heightened geopolitical interest by various great powers. This dissertation explores four sets of relationships with Armenia’s major historical ‘partners’: Russia, Iran, Turkey and the West (Europe and the United States). Each relationship reveals a complex reality of a continuous negotiation between ideas of history, collective memory, nationalism and geopolitics. A detailed study of Armenia’s relations with these powers demonstrates how actors’ relations of amity and enmity are formed to constitute a regional security complex. Turkey represents the ultimate “other”, while both Europe and Iran are seen as ideational “others”, whose role in Armenia’s foreign policy, aside from pragmatic policy considerations, reflects a normative quest. Russia and the United States, on the other hand, represent the powerful structural forces that define the regional security complex, in which Armenia operates. This dissertation argues that although Armenia has been severely constrained in certain foreign policy choices, it was adept at carving a space for action that privileged the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh over other geopolitical imperatives.

The present thesis examines probably the ultimate focal point in the history of the Christian South Caucasian Cultures – the Caucasian Schism that occurred in the early seventh century – a major scandal that ended the ecclesiastical communion between the Georgian and Armenian Churches and gave impetus to the rise of the so-called national Churches. The schism became the central point of reference in both medieval and modern Caucasian historiographies. Modern scholarship has advanced different claims concerning the nature, reasons and results of the Schism, in many cases arguing that almost all aspects of the respective cultures have been affected by the Schism. As for medieval Armenian historical narratives, they made a good conceptual use of the schism, presenting the schism as a major interpretive schema for the explanation of all aspects of their relations with their northern neighbours. Contrary to such view, I argue that our knowledge of the reasons behind the schism and theological controversies that preceded, accompanied or followed the Schism in the sixth century is in most cases determined by the conceptual framework created in the Middle Ages together with the changes in political state of affairs in the Caucasus. In the period between the tenth to thirteenth centuries, when all major South Caucasian powers were struggling for the unification of the Caucasus under their aegis, the remembrance of the schism became particularly important. The remembrance and indeed forgetting of the Caucasian unity and separation became a rhetorical tool in medieval Armeno-Georgian debates. Therefore instead of taking the Schism at face value, I propose to abandon the traditional liminalist perception of the history of unity and separation in the Caucasus, and adopt a more rewarding approach, that is to say to try to understand when, why and by whom were the crucial events of the Late Antique Caucasian history conceptualized and adapted for contemporary ideological needs.

This dissertation examines lawyers and lawyering in post-Soviet Georgia. It suggests that the collapse of the Soviet Union triggered a rapid de-professionalization of lawyers. The monopoly of the Soviet-era Bar was broken, the number of law graduates multiplied, many of the objective conditions for lawyering (such as functioning courts) were simply absent and most jurists employed by state enterprises lost their jobs. In other words, lawyers were left with little control over their markets or work. But there has also been a growing movement towards the professionalization of lawyers since 1991. Intriguingly, the key to understanding the new professionalism lies not with the reconstruction of state-mandated monopolies (indeed for several years there was simply no law regulating the Bar), but rather with lawyers' attempts to control a market through means firmly lodged in culture and the politics of the post-Soviet transition. These means include a traditional reliance on reputation and networks. Comparisons are also made here to the legal professions in Armenia and Azerbaijan, revealing similar findings and rounding out this thesis as a regional study. The empirical findings, which are based on fieldwork carried out in Transcaucasia between 1998 and 2001, have implications for studies of the legal profession and the rule of law in transition societies.

ix, 67 p.
For centuries, Russian writers have stressed the important role the Caucasus played in the Russian Empire. In the last few decades, much attention has been directed at the Caucasians in literary works and movies as a result of the two Chechen wars. This thesis addresses the evolution of the Caucasian theme in Russian literature beginning from the 18th century with a focus on the contemporary representation of the peoples of Caucasus, mainly Chechens, in three works: a Soviet-era movie by Leonid Gaidai, Kidnapping, Caucasian Style (1966); Vladimir Makanin's story, Captive of the Caucasus (1994) and Viktor Pelevin's story, Papakhi na bashniakh (1995). The central research question is to what degree contemporary authors have transformed the image of the Caucasians compared to the Romantic period. Of particular interest is the issue of Russia's self-representation in these works.
Committee in charge: Dr. Susanna Soojung Lim, Chairperson; Dr. Katya Hokanson, Member

This thesis investigates the dual transnationalism of ancestral return migrants, that is to say people “returning” to the territory where their ancestors had once migrated from. Dispersed from their homeland in the second half of the 19th century, the Adyge-Abkhaz diaspora has been involved in a variety of transnational practices in relation to their homeland in the Caucasus; and some, with considerable effort, have been settling there especially in the last two decades. The transnational involvement of this diaspora, most of whom live today in Turkey, is motivated by their search for belonging. Many who go back and forth between Turkey and the Caucasus are involved in transnational diaspora associations and take an active role in the formation of a transnational ethno-political-cultural environment for new generations growing up in the diaspora. The majority of those who have “return migrated” to their homeland in the Caucasus, in this study to two republics, Adygeya (an autonomous republic under the Russian Federation) and Abkhazia (a republic with contested independence), develop new transnational links to their diaspora communities in Turkey. This thesis is the product of a multi-sited, multi-method research project that combines theories related to transnationalism, diaspora and return, as well as migrant adaptation. Using life-history interviews, semi-structured interviews and participant observation, fieldwork for the research took place in rural diaspora settlements and urban diaspora organisations in Turkey as well as in the Caucasus, thereby enabling the researcher to study both ends of the migration route. Existing studies on ancestral return migration focus on pull and push factors, which hitherto have focused on sending and receiving countries separately. This thesis argues that their dual transnationalism, both in the diaspora (in Turkey) looking back towards the diasporic homeland, and after return looking back towards the diaspora, turns them into the “diaspora of their diaspora”.

U.S. strategy toward Southern Caucasus and Central Asia has not been studied sufficiently. The present study, which takes the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the subsequent independence of the states of CASC (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) as its starting point, is probably the most detailed tracing of the evolution of U.S. strategy toward this specific region hitherto available. The study is methodologically committed to process-tracing and covers U.S. strategy toward CASC over a 15-year period covering three separate presidential administrations. A vast material has been collected and studied, and the primary contribution of the study is empirical. The study also sets out develop a neoclassical realist framework for analysing U.S. strategy, which introduces strategic culture as an intervening variable between the external actions of the U.S and the international environment.  The theory in this study is based on three pillars. The first is structural realism. With its focus on the international environment and the pressure that is exerts, the study accepts the systemic imperative described by structural realists. The second pillar is cultural/constructivist theory. The study presupposes the notion of malleable norms and identities promoted by such theories. The third and most important pillar is neoclassical realism, which aims at finding intervening variables between a state´s external actions and the international environment. The definition of U.S. strategic culture relies heavily on American political and diplomatic history, the main argument being that U.S. policymakers constantly draw on U.S. strategic culture and have strong incentives to frame their policies so as to be culturally acceptable. The strategic culture thus both constrains and enables actions. The framework contributes to the ongoing effort to bridge the gap between realist and constructivist perspectives. This study will demonstrate that U.S. strategy toward CASC was shaped by specific U.S. strategic culture to a considerable extent. Throughout the entire period studied, the declared goal of the U.S. was the integration of CASC into the community of liberal market democracies. One very important theoretical finding of this study is that U.S. strategic culture had a powerful impact on U.S. strategy, independently of international pressures. This study will also demonstrate that U.S. strategy was incoherent, inconsistent, bureaucratically uncoordinated, susceptible to domestic pressure, and frequently subordinated to more important strategic goals outside of the region.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Chechens fought against the Russians for independence. The focus in the literature available has been on the wars and the atrocities caused by the wars. The literature then hypothesizes that the insurgency of today is just a continuation of the past. They do not focus on a major event in Chechen history: the Soviet liquidation of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1944. It is this author’s assertion that the liquidation of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR forever changed the mindset of the people because it fractured a society that was once unified. This project will compare the Chechen insurgency from the beginnings until the deportation and after the deportation. This will allow me to show how the deportation changed the Chechen mindset and disprove the assertion that these two Chechen wars were just a continuation of the past.

ix, 161 p. : maps
In 2002, the Russian government began distributing tens of thousands of Russian passports in the de facto states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Some scholarly attention has been devoted to this process, known as passportization, but most of the literature treats passportization as a primarily political process, ignoring its geographic aspects. This thesis shows that passportization in Abkhazia and South Ossetia amounted to a process of "biocolonization," wherein the populations of the de facto states were discursively captured by Russia through individual naturalization. Consequently, passportization served to create "Russian spaces" within the internationally recognized borders of Georgia and, in the process challenged international legal norms rooted in the logic of the modern state system.
Committee in charge: Dr. Alexander Murphy, Chair; Dr. Shaul Cohen, Member; Dr. Julie Hessler, Member

Le Caucase est souvent vu comme une région morcelée, en proie à des rivalités géopolitiques et à des nationalismes virulents. Cette recherche propose de rompre avec ces perceptions, en relisant son histoire récente. Elle reconstitue la trajectoire des confins de la Turquie, de l’Iran et de la Russie dans le premier tiers du 20e siècle, en présentant d’abord une histoire des circulations transfrontalière au cours de cette période de révolutions, de conflits et de bouleversements politiques. L’étude de la frontière caucasienne est mise au service d’une analyse des formes d’autonomie politico-administrative dans ces confins. Les institutions régionales puissantes qui s’appuient sur l’ouverture de la frontière jusqu’à la fin des années 1930 jouent un rôle majeur dans les évolutions intérieures des empires, mais aussi dans les relations interétatiques. Elites régionales et consuls en poste dans la région donnent naissance une véritable paradiplomatie caucasienne. Cette diplomatie frontalière est une ressource pour les élites régionales dans leurs rapports de force avec les gouvernements centraux, et énonce des enjeux très différents de ceux des diplomaties centrales : migrations, questions policières et judiciaires, défis environnementaux constituent certains des champs de cette coopération entre Etats, qui donne lieu à des influences et échanges peu connus. En les mettant en lumière, cette recherche suggère de dépasser une historiographie centrée sur l’impérialisme des puissances. On ne peut comprendre l’histoire caucasienne sans mettre au premier plan ses acteurs régionaux et leur capacité à se positionner dans les interstices de politiques étatiques et de territoires impériaux
The Caucasus is often perceived as a fragmented area, dominated by geopolitical rivalries and rabid nationalisms. This research attempts to break with such an interpretation by rethinking its recent history. It reconstructs the shared dynamics of the Caucasian borderlands between Turkey, Iran and Russia in the first third of the 20th century, by presenting a history of cross-border circulations in this moment of revolutions, conflicts and political upheavals. This study of border interactions is inserted into a wider analysis of political-administrative autonomy in these borderlands. Until the late 1930s, powerful autonomous institutions rely upon the open Caucasian border and play a major role within each empire and between them. Regional elites and consular networks give rise to a genuine Caucasian paradiplomacy. This border diplomacy creates resources for regional elites in the balance of powers with central governments and focuses on issues neglected by a focus on central diplomacies: migrations, police and judicial matters, environmental challenges are but a few of these fields which foster interstate cooperation, enabling little-known influences and exchanges. By highlighting them, this dissertation suggests a way to go beyond a historiography of great powers imperialism. It contends that Caucasian history cannot be properly understood without putting at the forefront regional actors and their ability to exploits the interstices of state policies and imperial territories

Apparu entre le IIIe et le début du Ier siècle avant notre ère, un pouvoir royal établi à Armazi-Mc’xet’a exerça jusqu’au VIe siècle de notre ère un rôle pivot dans l’histoire de l’ancienne Caucasie, à la charnière de l’Empire romain, de l’Iran et des terres sarmates. Le pays où s’exerçait leur pouvoir, l’Ibérie, amalgamait divers peuples et communautés autour du cours moyen du fleuve Koura, au débouché de la passe du Darial. Composant avec les rivalités dynastiques, le morcellement ethnique, la pluralité des langues et la diversité des cultures, les rois d’Ibérie firent preuve d’une remarquable capacité d’adaptation pour assurer leur emprise territoriale, affirmer leur légitimité et trouver une place de choix dans les réseaux d’alliances transnationaux. Le système politique ibère établit une relation d’équilibre entre l’aristocratie et la cour à travers une diarchie associant le roi et son pitiaxe. Entrée dans l’orbite de Rome après l’invasion de Pompée en 65 avant notre ère, la royauté ibère construisit durant trois siècles un partenariat avec les dirigeants romains qui n’était cependant pas exempt d’ambivalence. Les années 260 de notre ère marquèrent un tournant capital dans l’évolution du pouvoir royal ibère, lorsque l’emprise grandissante des Sassanides instigua un changement dynastique au profit des Mihranides. Dans un contexte d’effervescence spirituelle mettant en concurrence divers courants religieux, les rois ibères décidèrent progressivement de confessionnaliser leur pouvoir. Au début du Ve siècle, l’invention d’une première forme officielle d’écriture géorgienne illustra ce nouveau consensus politique et religieux voulu par une royauté devenue chrétienne
Since its appearance between the third and the beginning of the first century BCE, a royal power established in Armazi-Mc‘xet‘a exercised until the sixth century CE a pivotal role in the history of Ancient Caucasia, at the hinge of Roman Empire, Iran and Sarmatian lands. The country where their rule was exercised, Iberia, amalgamated various peoples and communities around the middle course of Kura River, near the Darial pass. Composing with ethnic division, linguistic plurality and cultural diversity, the kings of Iberia developed a remarkable capacity of adaptation to ensure their domination, assert their legitimacy and find their place in the transnational networks of alliances. The Iberian political system established a balanced relationship between aristocracy and the royal court through a diarchy associating the king and his pitiaxēs. Entering the orbit of Rome after the invasion of Pompey in 65 BC, Iberian kings shaped during three centuries a partnership with Roman leaders, however not without ambivalence. The decade 260s CE constituted a major turning point in the evolution of royal power in Caucasian Iberia, insofar as the growing grip of Sasanians instigated a dynastic change in favour of the House of Mihranids. In a context of spiritual effervescence putting in competition several religious currents, the Iberian kings gradually opted for a confessionalization of their rule. At the beginning of the fifth century, the invention of a first official form of Georgian writing illustrated this new political and religious consensus established by a kingship converted to Christianism

Les Ingouches et les Tchétchènes (ou Vaïnakhs) ont changé plusieurs fois de religion : ils furent païens, chrétiens, de nouveau païens, et enfin musulmans. Les Tchétchènes devinrent musulmans aux 16ème-17ème siècles. Les Ingouches furent islamisés à la fin du 19ème siècle. Aux 18ème-19ème siècles, la Russie entreprit en vain de les christianiser ; mais ils sont restés méfiants à l'égard d'une religion prêchée par leur ennemi séculaire. Après l'islamisation au début du 20ème siècle, ils invoquaient certains dieux païens, croyant prier Allah. L'ancien panthéon ingouche est la somme de toutes les phases de son évolution. Les Vaïnakhs adoraient les montagnes et les sources d'eau, les arbres fruitiers : poiriers et pommiers ; ils avaient des bois sacrés. Ils adoraient également certains représentants de la faune : taureaux, boucs, aurochs, cerfs, loups, canes, oies et leurs œufs, etc. Leur panthéon contenait les dieux du monde, les divinités astrales, les dieux de la nature, les dieux de la vie rurale, les dieux de la vie sociale, les dieux du métier, les divinités des fléaux, les dieux personnels ; il comportait également une pléiade de demi-dieux et de démons. Les dieux avaient leurs "maisons" où l'accès au public était interdit, sauf au prêtre. Le culte des ancêtres et du foyer était très développé. Les Ingouches ont élaboré leur cosmogonie, leur description du ciel astral, leur calendrier, etc. Il y a beaucoup de coïncidence entre les cultes et les langues vaïnakhs et ceux des Mésopotamiens, particulièrement les Hourrites
The Ingush and the Chechens (or Vainahs) changed religion several times : they were pagan, Christian, pagan again and finally Moslem. The Chechens converted to Islam during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Ingush became Moslems at the end of the 19th century. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Russia tried in vain to convert them to Christianity, but they remained suspicious of a religion preached by their age-old enemy. After the conversion to Islam at the beginning of the 20th century, they invoked certain pagan gods believing they were praying Allah. The old Ingush pantheon reflects all the phases of this evolution. The Vainahs worshipped mountains, springs, pear and apple trees ; some woods were considered sacred. They also worshipped certain animals : bulls, goats, wild oxen, stags, wolves, ducks, geese and their eggs, etc. Their pantheon was composed of gods of the world, astral divinities, nature gods, gods of rural life, gods of social life, gods of professions, divinities of plagues, personal gods ; it also included a number of demigods and demons. The gods had their "houses", where access was refused to everyone except the priests. Ancestor- and home worship were very widespread. The Ingush developed in depth their cosmogony, their description of the stars, their calendar, etc. Many coincidences have been noticed between the Vainah religions and languages and those of the Mesopotamians, especially the Hurrits

L'objet de la présente étude est la dynamique des relations interculturelles dans le Caucase du Nord-Ouest du XIIIe au XIXe siècle. Le principal outil de l'étude est l'Histoire au sens le plus large du mot mais l'approche est aussi interdisciplinaire. Au cours de l'étude, ont été mises au jour les schèmes de développement des relations interculturelles dans le Caucase du N. -O. , ainsi que leurs conséquences. La nouveauté de la thèse consiste en ce que, pour la première fois, les relations interculturelles dans le Caucase du N. -O. Et dans la zone périphérique ont été analysées sur un grand intervalle de temps, ce dernier permettant de formuler une interprétation de leur évolution. L'importance pratique du travail, surtout à la lumière des récents événements dans le Caucase du Nord, réside dans le fait qu’il révèle les raisons des conflits qui ont leur origine dans l’histoire des contacts interculturels dans le passé
The subject of the undertaken research is the dynamics of the intercultural relations in the Northwest Caucasus in the XIII-XIX centuries, and the instrument of research is History in every sense of the word as well as an interdisciplinary approach. During the process of research some patterns of development of interethnic relations of cultural systems which came into contact in the Northwest Caucasus have been revealed; their consequences have been determined. The novelty of the thesis consists in the fact that for the first time the intercultural relations in the Northwest Caucasus and around it has been analysed over a long period, and its ethnological interpretation has been given. The practical significance of the research, especially in the light of the latest events in the North Caucasus, consists in revealing the causes of conflicts, which are rooted in the history of intercultural contacts in the past

Du lendemain des accords de Munich de septembre 1938 à l’armistice franco-allemand de juin 1940, les gouvernements français ont tenté à plusieurs reprises d’ouvrir au sud-est de l’Europe un front d’Orient contre l’Allemagne et ses alliés (y compris l’URSS). Pendant vingt mois, Paris a ainsi caressé des projets tels qu’un débarquement à Salonique, l’occupation du Dodécanèse et d’autres îles en mer Egée, l’obstruction du Danube ou le bombardement des installations pétrolières du Caucase et voulut y associer le Royaume-Uni, la Turquie, la Grèce et les autres Etats balkaniques. Fondée sur des sources françaises, britanniques, grecques et turques, cette thèse perçoit ces projets comme une réminiscence idéalisée du front d’orient de la Grande Guerre et examine leur échec à la lumière de l’extrême complexité et fluidité des rapports de force entre petites et grandes puissances dans les Balkans
From the aftermath of the Munich agreements in September 1938 until the Franco-German armistice of June 1940, the French governments have repeatedly tried to open an oriental front in South-Eastern Europe against Germany and its allies (USSR included). During these twenty months, Paris has thus initiated projects as a landing at Salonika, the occupation of the Dodecanese and other islands in the Aegean Sea, the blockage of the Danube or the bombing of the Caucasus oil installations, and tried to associate to these plans the United Kingdom, Turkey, Greece and the other Balkan states. Based on French, British, Greek and Turkish sources, this thesis perceives these projects as the result of an idealized remembrance of the Eastern Front of World War I, and considers their failure in the light of the extreme complexity and fluidity of the power struggle among the great and the small powers in the Balkans

L’écroulement de l’URSS à la fin du XX siècle a donné naissance à quinze nouveaux États indépendants sur un large territoire eurasien. Tel est le cas de l’Azerbaïdjan, l’un des pays du Caucase du sud, qui a regagné son indépendance après l’effondrement du système socialiste en 1991. Grâce à sa situation géographique et à ses richesses énergétiques (pétrole et gaz), l’Azerbaïdjan occupe une place stratégique et fait l’objet d’un « jeu » géopolitique, aussi bien à l’échelle régionale que mondiale entre de grandes puissances telles que les États-Unis, l’Union Européenne, la Russie, la Turquie et quelques autres. En retour, il essaie de jouer son atout, en appliquant une politique étrangère multivectorielle. Parmi eux, la Turquie occupe une place privilégiée dans la politique étrangère de l’Azerbaïdjan, grâce à son histoire, sa langue, sa religion et leurs traditions communes. Cette thèse s’est fixée pour objectif d’analyser les relations qui se sont établies entre l’Azerbaïdjan et la Turquie, en se basant sur trois axes qui constituent les pivots principaux des relations bilatérales entre les deux États: politique, économique (commercial) et sécuritaire (stratégique)
The collapse of the USSR at the end of the twentieth century has been followed by the creation of fifteen new independent States in the large Eurasian territory. Such is the case of Azerbaijan, which has declared its independence in 1991. Thanks to its geographical position and energy resources (oil and gas) Azerbaijan occupies a geopolitically strategic position and is subject to a geopolitical « game », which implies both regional (Turkey) and great world powers (such as the US, EU and Russia). Consequently, Azerbaijan has adopted a multi-vector foreign policy with its neighbors. Among its neighbors, Turkey, sharing a common history, language, religion and traditions has an important place in the foreign policy of Azerbaijan. In terms of the geopolitical « game », this thesis analyses the relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey. It is based on three axes, as these are the main pillars of bilateral relations between both states. These are political, institutional (commercial) and strategic (security)

La présente étude est consacrée à la politique étrangère de l'Azerbaïdjan entre grandes puissances et puissances régionales. Ce pays du Caucase du Sud accédant à l'indépendance en 1991 affirme sa singularité, entre confrontation et coopération avec ses voisins proches ou lointains. La question centrale est donc de savoir comment l'Azerbaïdjan peut justifier et éventuellement renforcer sa présence sur l'échiquier international alors qu'il se trouve au cœur des grands enjeux géopolitiques et économiques. Sa position le place au centre des rivalités entre des puissances telles que la Russie, l'Iran et la Turquie et, au-delà de son voisinage immédiat les États-Unis et l'Union européenne. Le pays est contraint à une politique étrangère équilibrée afin de ne pas s'aliéner les partenaires de l'ouest comme de l'est. Il tente également de tirer profit de l'exploitation des hydrocarbures de la Caspienne en vue de résoudre la question cruciale du conflit du Haut-Karabakh
This thesis deals with the Azerbaijan policy between great powers and regional powers. Since its independence in 1991 the country of South Caucasus asserted its singularity. It sometimes confronts, sometimes cooperates with its neighbors. The key question is, therefore, how Azerbaijan can justify and possibly strengthen its presence on the international stage as it stands at the heart of great geopolitical and economic issues. Because of its location it is the center of rivalries between powers such as Russia, Iran and Turkey or the United States and the European Union. The country is compelled to a balanced foreign policy not to lose the support of either western or eastern partners. Baku also attempts to use the exploitation of Caspian oil in order resolve the crucial issue of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh

La politique de la langue azerbaïdjanaise doit être étudiée en suivant quatre aspects différents mais très liés : la politique linguistique à l’égard de la langue officielle, la politique linguistique à l’égard des langues minoritaires en Azerbaïdjan, la politique linguistique à l’égard de la Turcophonie et la politique linguistique à l’égard des minorités azerbaïdjanaises vivant surtout dans les pays frontaliers tels que l’Iran, la Géorgie ou bien la Fédération de Russie (également la République du Daghestan de la Fédération de Russie). Cet ensemble constitue pour la politique linguistique de l’Azerbaïdjan à la fois une intervention sur la langue officielle mais aussi sur les langues minoritaires de la part de l’Etat et un domaine de coopération internationale dans le cas de la Turcophonie. Par conséquence, l’aspect régional de cette politique est considéré comme une action ayant des enjeux essentiels pour le développement et le rayonnement de l’azerbaïdjanais comme langue minoritaire
Policy Azerbaijani language must be studied in four different but closely related aspects : the language policy towards the official language, the language policy towards minority languages in Azerbaijan, the language policy towards the Turcophonie and the language policy against Azerbaijani minorities especially in neighboring countries such as Iran, Georgia or Russia (also the Republic of Dagestan of the Russian Federation). This set is for the language policy of Azerbaijan in both the official language intervention but also on minority languages from the state and an area of international cooperation in the case of Turcophonie. Consequently, the regional aspect of this policy is considered as an action that key issues for the development and influence of Azerbaijani as a minority language

This dissertation is a quantitative study with elements of qualitative analysis. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate WHAT was written about Ukraine's independence 1917 in Swedish press 1917–1918. The qualitative part of the survey was intended to answer the question if the newspaper's political attitude influenced the news reports during the chosen period. The exact periodization was determined to be between March 1, 1917 and June 30, 1918. This periodization was chosen because of the March Revolution in 1917, which triggered independence declarations in a number of countries oppressed by Moscow, who now saw their chance of freedom. June 1918 became the end of the investigation because it was just when the peace agreement between Ukraine and the Soviet Union was signed. The source material has been chosen to represent a multitude of ideological orientations. It was liberal, moderate, conservative, liberal and left-wing orientations. The source material consisted of newspaper articles from the following newspapers: Dagens Nyheter, Aftonbladet, Göteborgs Aftonblad, Svenska Dagbladet, Dalpilen, Kalmar Tidning and Norrskensflamman. Quantitative methodology was used on the source material. This method consisted of a reviewing of newspaper articles in searching of news reports from Ukraine or articles which had something to do with the events in Ukraine. Every newspaper was searched day after day. The crawled material was presented in two chapters representing different periods. The first chapter of the results presented the results from 1917, and more precisely from March to December 1917. The second chapter presented the results from 1918, but also from December 1917, that is, the result from December 1917 through June 1918. The whole result was then discussed in a separate chapter where the qualitative analysis was also discussed. The result of the quantitative analysis showed that it has been written relatively sparcely about Ukraine's independence although the volume of articles increased from December 1917 and even more in 1918. Sometimes there were articles on the first page. But for the most part, the articles with Ukraine issues were placed among other foreign articles. It was also found in the survey that it was the first World War that drew attention to the newspapers, even though the events in Petrograd and then in Ukraine took more space. This survey also showed that what was written about Ukraine's independence was also what appears in the reference literature. The news reports reported how Ukraine proclaimed independence in March 1917 and later on proclaimed an independent republic in November 1917 when the Bolsheviks conducted their coup d'état in Petrograd. The newspapers also wrote how the Russian Communists sent a declaration of war to Ukraine in December 1917 and about the war that followed. The articles also tell us how negotiations on Ukraine Peace went on in Brest-Litovsk, and how they ended up with alliance between Germany and Ukraine with the campaign against the communists. It was told how the German army marched into Ukraine to free it from the bolsheviks. Until May 1918 there were battles between the German-Ukrainian Army and the Communists. In June 1918 the peace agreement was signed and this survey’s investigation ended. The survey showed that it was written about Ukraine's independence in all newspapers. Dagens Nyheter had the most news articles linked to the survey. Although the number of articles was not subject for analysis in this survey. The qualitative analysis was based on using Höjelid's theoretical concepts "positive sound" and "negative sound" on the quantitative analysis material. The qualitative analysis’ result showed that it was almost impossible to see the differences between the newspapers because the articles were traded between the newspapers, i.e. the content was copied straight away. It should be noted that not all content was the subject of copying between the newspapers. Copying occurred to a greater extent, but there were still original articles derived from the respective newspaper. Most of the articles were also direct telegrams that were communicated abroad to the newspaper's editors. A lot of these telegrammic articles were sent with a purpose to mislead society. These angled articles were published without further examination in Swedish press. There were articles from, for example, Dagens Nyheter whose editors noted the "strange Petrograd reports" and informed about it for the purpose of enlightening the public. However, as most newspapers were occupied with World War I, as was shown in the source material, the newspaper editorial office was less interested in other foreign events. Therefore, such angled articles could be found in Swedish press on a larger scale.
Denna avhandling är en kvantitativ studie med inslag av kvalitativ analys. Syftet med denna kvantitativa studien var att undersöka VAD som skrevs om Ukrajinas självständighet 1917 i svensk press 1917–1918. Den kvalitativa delen av undersökningen ämnade att besvara frågan om tidningens politiska hållningen påverkade nyhetsrapporteringen under den valda perioden. Den exakta periodiseringen fastställdes att vara mellan den 1 mars 1917 och den 30 juni 1918. Denna periodisering valdes på grund av marsrevolutionen 1917 som utlöste självständighets-förklaringar i en rad länder som var förtryckta av Moskovitien och som nu såg sin chans till frihet. Juni 1918 blev slutpunkten i undersökningen därför att det var just då som fredsavtalet mellan Ukrajina och Sovjet undertecknades. Källmaterialet har valts att representera en mångfald ideologiska inriktningar. Det var liberal, moderat, konservativ, frisinnad samt vänstersocial inriktningar. Källmaterialet bestod av tidningsartiklar från följande tidningar: Dagens Nyheter, Aftonbladet, Göteborgs Aftonblad, Svenska Dagbladet, Dalpilen, Kalmar tidning och Norrskensflamman. Det användes kvantitativ metod på källmaterialet som bestod i en genomsökning av tidningsartiklarna efter nyhetsrapporter från Ukrajina eller som hade något med händelserna i Ukrajina att göra. Varje tidning genomsöktes dag för dag. Det genomsökta materialet presenterades i två kapitel som representerade olika perioder. Det första resultatkapitlet presenterade resultatet från år 1917, och mer exakt från mars till december 1917. Det andra kapitlet presenterade resultatet från år 1918, men även från december 1917, det vill säga resultatet från och med december 1917 till och med juni 1918. Det hela resultatet diskuterades sedan i ett eget kapitel där även den kvalitativa analysen diskuterades. Resultatet från den kvantitativa analysen visade att det har skrivits relativt sparsmakat om Ukrajinas självständighet även om artikelmängden ökade från december 1917 och ännu mer under 1918. Ibland förekom det artiklar på första sidan. Men för det mesta placerades artiklarna med Ukrajina-frågor bland andra utlandsartiklar. Det framgick också i undersökningen att det var mest första världskriget som upptog tidningarnas uppmärksamhet, även om händelserna i Petrograd och sedan i Ukrajina tog allt mer plats allt eftersom. Denna undersökning visade också att det som skrevs om Ukrajinas självständighet var också det som förekommer i referenslitteraturen. Nyhetsrapporterna berättade hur Ukrajina utropat sin självständighet i mars 1917 tills landet proklamerat en oberoende republik i november 1917 när bolsjevikerna genomförde sin statskupp i Petrograd. Tidningarna skrev också hur de ryska kommunisterna skickade krigsförklaring till Ukrajina i december 1917 och om det kriget som följde efter det. Artiklarna berättar även om hur förhandlingarna för Ukrajinafreden gick till i Brest-Litovsk samt hur dessa avslutades med att Tyskland allierade sig med Ukrajina i kampen mot kommunisterna. Det berättades hur den tyska armén marscherade in i Ukrajina för att befria det från bolsjevikerna. Fram till maj 1918 pågick det strider mellan tysk-ukrajinska armén och kommunisterna. I juni 1918 undertecknades fredsavtalet och där slutade undersökningen.  Undersökningen visade att det skrevs om Ukrajinas självständighet i samtliga tidningar. Dagens Nyheter hade flest nyhetsartiklar kopplade till undersökningen. Även om antalet artiklar ej var i syfte att analysera i denna undersökning. Den kvalitativa analysen gick ut på att använda Höjelids teoretiska begrepp ”positiv klang” och ”negativ klang” på den kvantitativa analysens resultatmaterial. Det kvalitativa resultatet visade att det var nästintill omöjligt att se skillnad mellan de olika tidningarna eftersom artiklarna traderades mellan tidningarna, det vill säga innehållet kopierades rakt av. Det bör påpekas att inte allt innehåll var ämne för kopiering mellan tidningarna. Kopieringen förekom i större utsträckning men det fanns ändå originella artiklar som härstammade från respektive tidning. De flesta av artiklarna var dessutom direkta telegram som kommunicerades i utlandet till tidningens redaktioner. En hel del av dessa telegraferade artiklar skickades med ett givet syfte att vilseleda samhällsopinionen. Dessa vinklade artiklar publicerades utan vidare granskning i svensk press. Det förekom artiklar från exempelvis Dagens Nyheter vars redaktion uppmärksammat de ”märkliga Petrogradrapporter” och informerat om det i möjligt syfte att upplysa allmänheten. Men eftersom de flesta tidningarna var upptagna med första världskriget, som det visades i källmaterialet, var tidningsredaktionerna mindre intresserade av andra utländska händelser. Därför kunde sådana vinklade artiklar förekomma i svensk press i en större omfattning.

碩士
國立中正大學
應用地球物理研究所
103
The Arabia-Eurasia collision propagates from south to north which results in the south Caspian Sea northward subducting and rapid exhumation in the Greater Caucasus. Previous study has mainly focused on the north side of the Greater Caucasus and show about 5Ma beginning rapid uplift. In this study, we conduct the apatite fission track and Zircon U-Th/He dating to analyze rock from the southern Greater Caucasus, and combining with previous thermochronolgy data to reveal the comprehensive exhumation history of the Greater Caucasus. The Greater Caucasus shows the bivegent-wedge shape and the highest metamorphic grade shows in the central axis area and decreases to northward and southward. Most of the zircon fission track shows Mesozoic ages indicates the Cenozoic exhumation amount is less than ca. 8 km. Two zircon U-Th/He dating shows 11.5-5.3 Ma indicates the maximum exhumation amount is ca. 6-8 km and the rapid exhumation could start from those ages. All the apatite ages ranges from 9-1.2 Ma, and also infers the rapid exhumation since 9-6 Ma. Variation the exhumation amount and rate along the strike of mountain infers different convergence process. To the eastern side the transition or oceanic North Anatolia crust subduct to the Eurasia plate and the North Anatolia continent crust subduct and collide with the Eurasia plate that result in high exhumation rate in the central Greater Caucasus.

This dissertation presents new data on the vegetation history of the Caucasus, a region of high biodiversity and ancient human occupation. The aim of the study is to determine the causes of vegetation changes in Southern Georgia over the past 14,000 years by comparing well-dated pollen and charcoal records to evidence of past climatic change and human activity in the region. Pollen data from semi-arid and mountainous environments are often very difficult to interpret, a consideration which has hampered previous research in Southern Georgia. In this thesis I present a novel method to overcome this problem to allow the reconstruction of past trends in rainfall, temperature, forest cover and land-use. Reconstructed climatic parameters show that the study area’s climate was extremely arid and seasonally variable between 14,000 and 11,500 years ago. Precipitation increased slowly during the early Holocene, such that a rainfall pattern of more or less modern character was established in Georgia between 9000 and 8000 years ago. Conditions then became wetter and warmer during the mid Holocene, reverting to a cooler and drier climates during the late Holocene.

碩士
國立中正大學
應用地球物理研究所
102
The Lesser Caucasus, located on the Eastern Anatolia Plateau with 1500-2000 m high elevation, was resulted from the collision between the Arabian plate and Eurasia plate. Different models and initial timing have been proposed to infer the timing and mechanism of plateau building. Here we combined with U-Pb, zircon and apatite fission track dating of the Mesozoic to Eocene granite to reveal the exhumation history of the Lesser Caucasus. The U-Pb show it exist Mesozoic to Eocene granite intrusion in Lesser Caucasus. Most of the zircon fission track ages concentrate on 33-39 Ma which is similar to the Eocene back arc magmatism event and Eocene U-Pb ages. The zircon fission track ages are similar with U-Pb ages indicating that the Eocene magmatism is a shallow crust emplacement. The apatite ages range from ca. 10-23 Ma along the Lesser Caucasus Range and increase far away the Lesser Caucasus. The track length thermal modeling of apatite fission track shows the exhumation rate is lower from 33 to 5 Ma and started to increase from ca. 5 Ma to now. This is consistent with age-elevatiand data of fission track and timing of extensive magmatism events in Lesser Cascasus.

NOTE: Text or symbols not renderable in plain ASCII are indicated by [...]. Abstract is included in .pdf document. The 2.8 Ma Chegem caldera, an 11x15 km ash-flow caldera located in the Caucasus Mountains, presents a unique opportunity to study silicic magma systems because of its combination of youth, exposure and simplicity. Rapid uplift and erosion in the region has exposed over 2 km of flatlying caldera fill, consisting of densely welded tuff (rhyolitic to dacitic), overlain by glacial deposits and andesite flows and cut by a granodiorite porphyry intrusion. The Eldjurta Granite, whose age and composition are similar to the Chegem volcanics, is exposed in an adjacent river valley 10 km to the northeast. Major Mo-W deposits located in nearby skarns have prompted mineral-exploration drillholes (to 4 km depth) in the granite. An isotopic study of the rocks of the Chegem caldera and the Eldjurta Granite has been performed to examine their petrogenesis, fluid flow and thermal histories. Biotite and sanidine [...] ages for 8 Chegem Tuff samples and the granodiorite intrusion are analytically indistinguishable at 2.82 ± 0.02 Ma. Thus, the Chegem Tuff was erupted, cooled and intruded by the granodiorite within < 50,000 yrs. In the nearby Eldjurta Granite, biotite and K-feldspar [...] ages for 11 samples, including 8 from the deep drillhole (to 3970m depth) yield ages between 0.83 ± 0.29 Ma and 2.78 ± 0.09 Ma. A decrease in biotite ages from 1.90 ± 0.24 Ma near the roof of the granite to 0.83 ± 0.29 Ma at 3970m depth, apparently records the uplift and cooling history of this pluton. The ages of the upper 10 samples imply an isotherm migration rate of 13 mm/yr, probably due to a combination of downward migration of isotherms and regional uplift. Oxygen isotope studies of the intracaldera tuff, including 38 samples from a continuous 1405m-stratigraphic section, reveal a striking caldera-wide stratigraphic horizon of [...]-depleted rocks in which there is extreme disequilibrium between phenocrysts and groundmass (sometimes still glassy). All quartz and feldspar phenocrysts have "normal" igneous [...] values of [...]8.5 and [...]7.0, respectively. Whole-rock and groundmass [...] values are as low as -4.0 and -7.7, respectively. Infrared spectroscopic analyses of glassy pumices reveal that they contain 3.3 to 4.8 wt% water. The [...] and water speciation of these glasses reflects low-temperature hydration by meteoric water, whereas some of their [...] values require higher temperature water-glass interaction. Pronounced disequilibrium between coexisting feldspar and groundmass or glass has never been observed before on this scale. It requires a hydrothermal event involving large amounts of low-[...] H2O at sufficiently high temperatures and short enough time that glass exchanges thoroughly but feldspar does not. The most likely process responsible for the [...] depletions at Chegem is a high-temperature (500-600°C), short-lived (10-25 years), vigorous meteoric-hydrothermal event similar to that which occurred at the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, Alaska. Mass balance calculations indicate fluid fluxes of [...] mol/[...]-sec over that time period. Sr isotopic studies reveal that this hydrothermal event caused increases in whole-rock [...], possibly because the hydrothermal waters attained radiogenic Sr from crystalline rocks which were incorporated in the caldera fill during caldera collapse. [...] ratios of unaltered Chegem volcanic and intrusive rocks range from 0.7044 to 0.7060, significantly lower than values for surrounding country rock (0.7070 to 0.7319). Thus, the Chegem magmas were probably derived from the mantle or lower crust. The [...] ratios correlate with major- and trace-element trends, indicating that the Chegem magma chamber was both isotopically and compositionally zoned. Compared to the Chegem rocks, the Eldjurta Granite has higher [...] (0.7069), [...] and [...], and so must have evolved separately at some time.

Islam in the North Caucasus: History and Contemporary Trends on example of Kabardino- Balkaria and Dagestan The following thesis focuses on selected key aspects of Islam in the North Caucasus, with emphasis on two North Caucasus republics - Kabardino-Balkaria on the west and Dagestan on the east. The first part will follow the penetration of Islam in the North Caucasus, its role in the resistance against the Russian empire and the impact religion had on traditional Caucasian society. In the second part it will be analyzed current trends of Islam in the region, the mutual influence of religion and socio-political situation and the relation between traditional Islam and its radical forms. Work will be based on the study of relevant literature, press and fieldwork is also assumed. Key words: North Caucasus, islam, islamism, Kabardino-Balkaria Republic, Dagestan

Ce mémoire constitue une analyse critique du projet d'intégration régionale du Caucase du sud, tel que présenté par le Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) de Bruxelles, en 2000. L'examen vise à évaluer la faisabilité du projet et à en faire ressortir les intérêts inédits. La faisabilité est considérée sous l'angle de l'étude de l'expérience historique et de l'état contemporain du Caucase du sud, tout comme de l'exploration des lacunes dans les éléments du projet. La recherche des intérêts inédits est menée par l'analyse des fondements théoriques, méthodologiques et politiques du projet, selon les principes généraux de l'approche marxiste, le situant dans les relations contemporaines du capitalisme. L'analyse rend compte de l'impact de la construction récente des pipelines, en même temps qu'elle examine les programmes de TRACECA et d'INOGATE. Les résultats confirment que le Caucase du sud doit sa formation à l'héritage des empires. L'expérience historique est lourde de problèmes accumulés et complexes. Les acteurs majeurs (Occidentaux et Russes) sont à l'origine des constructions historiques régionales. Cet espace stratégique redevient un carrefour de routes économiques et commerciales. La régionalisation est limitée et les intentions officielles tendent vers l'intégration à un espace élargi. Les résultats indiquent que les élites occidentales sont à l'origine du projet, visant sa configuration selon la vision néolibérale et dans l'objectif de préservation de leurs intérêts politiques, économiques et sécuritaires. Dans ce projet, les acteurs sociaux (les États, l'UE, l'OMC) jouent un double rôle d'agent de structuration et d'harmonisation, principalement en faveur des intérêts occidentaux. Le rapport de pouvoir qui en résulte mettra le Caucase du sud dans une position de dépendance. Les accords et la jurisprudence, qui seront adoptés, jetteront la base d'une alliance entre le capital occidental et sud-caucasien contre les intérêts des classes populaires : l'exploitation sans entraves de leurs capacités physiques et intellectuelles à des coûts compétitifs dans le marché mondial sera alors possible. Le projet révèle des lacunes et des contradictions : limites à la souveraineté des États et des peuples; surestimation du rôle économique; contraintes géopolitiques et concurrence économique. Le projet répond d'avantage aux intérêts des Occidentaux plutôt qu'aux aspirations et intérêts des peuples du Caucase du sud. En dépit des limites pratiques et des contradictions inhérentes au projet, les Occidentaux sauront tirer des bénéfices de celui-ci. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Régionalisme, Intégration régionale-projet, Caucase du sud, Analyse critique