The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: From the osce Formal Mediation to Russia’s Actual Mediation
Since 1992, the osce’s mediation aimed at the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has ended in a deadlock. The overall purpose of this article is to explore the reasons why negotiations have stalled by using two variables: the internal context and the international environment of the conflict. We will examine the way these two dimensions overlap, are intertwined and penetrate into the mediation process to explain its outcome. Talks failed as a logical result of a gap between the diplomatic arena and the geopolitical balance of power on the ground. On the one hand, the mediation formal framework has overlooked the weakness and division of the conflicting state parties, as well as the autonomy of Nagorno-Karabakh. On the other hand, it has not accounted for interest and resource asymmetries between the mediating powers –on which the conflicting parties are highly depending.