Third-Party Mediation and Peace Processes in the Post-Soviet Space: Norms, Interests and Power

This book examines the success of third-party mediation in conflicts in the post-Soviet space.

Third-party mediation is the subject of an extensive literature dealing with the resolution of internal conflicts. This volume examines the conditions that contribute to the success or failure of third-party mediation, and the positions and interests of mediators involved in the resolution of intra-state internationalized conflict. These topics are addressed with regard to the frozen conflicts in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, Donbas and Nagorno-Karabakh. The book contributes timely research to a growing body of literature concerned with the resolution of intractable conflict in the post-Soviet space and deals primarily with the role of external actors in addressing these conflicts. It proposes a novel conceptual framework centred on norms, power and interests to cover the relationships developed between third-party mediators and primary parties in secessionist conflicts during negotiations for peace. The book’s core argument is that multiple competing proposals for settlement and the clashing interests of third parties often contribute to the increase in spoiling, hindering the opportunity to take advantage of the ripe moment for peace.

This book will be of much interest to students of peace and conflict studies, mediation, eastern European and Central Asian politics, and International Relations.

Ana Maria Albulescu is a Research Fellow in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Tartu, Estonia. She has a PhD from Kings College London and is author of Incomplete Secession after Unresolved Conflicts: Political Order and Escalation in the Post-Soviet Space (Routledge 2021).