Tomáš Hoch

• Ph.D.
• Professor (Associate) at University of Ostrava

De-facto states constitute an interesting and important anomaly in the international system of sovereign states. No matter how successful and efficient in the administration of their territories they are, they fail to achieve international recognition. In the past, their claims for independence were based primarily on the right to national self-det...

If Armenian and Azerbaijani negotiators ever agree on the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh, it will not necessarily resolve the long-running conflict, because any peace treaty would require the consent of the Karabakh Armenians, whose political representatives are currently excluded from peace negotiations. It is difficult to imagine the Karabakh...

De facto states are considered to be highly specific entities, thus meriting a detailed analysis of how conflict transformation functions within such states and what role is played in them by civil society organizations (CSOs), which are traditionally considered one of the key actors in conflict transformation. The authors discuss the factors that...

Independence or unification with Russia? That is a question that is constantly present in the South Ossetian public space. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, two referendums have been held in South Ossetia on the issue of state sovereignty (in 1992 and 2006). Since 2015, many proclamations have been made by South Ossetian politicians about...

The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of how Megrelians perceive their identity and the way in which this identity relates to the wider Georgian identity. Megrelians, a sub-ethnic Georgian group, primarily inhabit the West Georgian region of Samegrelo and the Gali region in Abkhazia. Based on field research conducted in O...

This study explores the problems related to university teaching and academic research within de facto states in the context of their non-recognition via an analysis of the current situation in the higher education sector of Northern Cyprus. It reveals that although Northern Cyprus is a world leader in terms of the number of universities per capita,...

The 2020 war in Nagorny Karabakh brought not merely a shift in the actual borders in the southern Caucasus; it also led to a change in control over several religious buildings or places that had become sacralized as symbols for one or the other side. Using selected examples of sacred places associated with Armenian or Azerbaijani historical memory,...

The chapter deals with the factors that have enabled the emergence of de facto states in the post-Soviet space. The key factors identified and analysed in this chapter are: the legal and social chaos created by the disintegration of the USSR; the political and economic weakness of the newly formed independent states; the ethno-national ambitions of...

The chapter focuses on the two de facto states which separated from Georgia – Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The authors give an insight into the complex development of Ossetian-Georgian and Abkhazian-Georgian relations, which in the early 1990s led to the escalation of conflict in both separatist regions. Utilising the logic of the previous chapter,...

During the past twenty years, de facto statehood has been an important area of research among political scientists, geographers, experts in security studies, international relations, and area studies. This research has deepened our knowledge and understanding of development in these enduring yet unrecognized, and to a certain extent, still isolated...

This book explores the phenomenon of de facto states in Eurasia: states such as Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic. It examines how they are formed, what sustains them, and how their differing development trajectories have unfolded. It argues that most of these de facto states have been formed with either direct or...

In many respects, de facto states play a highly specific role as actors within the international system of sovereign states. The lack of international recognition has tangible political and economic impacts on the functioning of de facto states, and so the attempt to persuade domestic actors and the international community of the legitimacy of thei...

Although conflicts in post-Soviet regions have been the subject of much attention, some aspects of these conflicts still remain somewhat neglected by academics. One such aspect is the role played by Church organizations in conflict transformation. The concept of conflict transformation places considerable emphasis on civil society, which-in its bro...

The concept of conflict transformation places considerable emphasis on civil society, which-in its broader sense-includes church organizations. Representatives of churches have direct access to persons who are involved in conflicts, and thus they have the potential to influence public opinion and the ability to bring hostile parties together to eng...

The concept of conflict transformation places considerable emphasis oncivil society, which – in its broader sense – includes church organizations.Representatives of churches have direct access to persons who are involvedin conflicts, and thus they have the potential to influence public opinion andthe ability to bring hostile parties together to eng...

The aim of this text is to identify the role of civil society organisations in the peacebuilding process on the case study of Georgia and then point out the factors, which limit the activities of civil society in the conflict transformation. The study is based on field research focusing on civil society organisations in Georgia, carried out in Tbil...

This paper analyses Georgian national identity from the position of liberal and constructivist approaches to international relations theory. Based on this theoretical framework, the aim of this text is to contribute to our understanding of how the European vector of Georgian national identity is constructed and how it impacts upon the pro-Western d...

The aim of this text is to contribute to the discussion about formation and subsequent development of the Georgian identity, which we consider as an important factor in current European vector of the Georgian foreign policy. From this perspective we try to set the pro-Western orientation of Georgia in the context of confrontation between Russia's f...

De facto states constitute an interesting anomaly in the international system of sovereign states. No matter how successful and efficient they are in the administration of their territories, they fail to achieve international recognition. The main priority is given to maintaining their existence and to an effort to convince domestic and internation...

The aim of this article is to analyse the role of Russia in the transformation of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict and analyse this important period in the history of the Caucasus, where Georgia and its secessionist region of South Ossetia have been trying to find a peaceful solution to their post-war situation. Major milestones of the official peace...

The goal of our article is to analyze Russia’s role during the transformation of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict during the years 1992-2008. We begin by identifying important milestones of the official peace process in Abkhazia, which we put into the context of the development of Russo-Georgian relations, then we move on to analysis of the internal...

The aim of our study is to map an important part of the history of the Caucasus, when the conflicts in the breakaway regions escalated, and when the government de facto States and their mother countries were trying to find a peaceful resolution of the post-war situation. For the purpose of this study, we chose a historical and analytical-descriptiv...

The aim of the present study is to map out an important part of the post-Soviet history of the South Caucasus as Georgia and its separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia sought to find a peaceful solution to their conflicts that had descended to bloody armed conflicts. The study also attempts to analyze the often crucial role of Russia in t...

The purpose of this study is to analyse the role of civil society in the de facto states of the South Caucasus in the process of conflict transformation. It is based on a field research of the civil society organizations in Abkhazia and Nagorno Karabakh. The data were collected by the methods of expert interviews, semi-structured interviews and par...

In addition to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which behave like de facto states today, the Georgian territory is home to yet another autonomous entity, Ajara. Also this region was the scene of strong tensions with the central authorities in Tbilisi in the early 1990s and there were indications that Ajara would emulate the example of Abkhazia and So...

Although the EU is the largest donor in Abkhazia, the emphasis on the territorial integrity of Georgia and the absence of its own ENP Action plan for Abkhazia, EU activities have little impact on the development of this de facto state. Development cooperation is highly politicized and political imperatives are superior to development issues. While...

Since the 1960s a large number of academics and former career diplomats have come up with the idea of holding informal workshops for relevant representatives of civil society from both sides of a conflict. Their activities started to be known as Track Two Diplomacy. The purpose of this kind of meetings was to set up an alternative space for the off...

De facto states constitute an interesting anomaly in the international system of sovereign states. No matter how long their control of claimed territory has lasted or how effective their capacities to provide governmental services to its population are, they fail to achieve international recognition. In the post-Soviet space, this is the case of Abk...

De-facto states constitute an interesting anomaly in the international system of sovereign states. No matter how long their control of claimed territory has lasted or how effective their capacities to provide governmental services to its population are, they fail to achieve international recognition. A change in the legitimising strategy adopted by...

Dichotomy between endo-ethnonyms (the way certain people call themselves) and exo-ethnonyms (what the nation is called by the neighbours) is well known from Europe. Also the etymology of both the types of ethnonyms (and also toponyms) in Europe is usually widely known. However, it is not only Europe the phenomenon of endo- and exo-ethnonyms (and to...

Throughout the Cold War, the international donor community had confined their effort in conflict situations primarily to humanitarian aid and ideologically motivated development cooperation. Donors were not prepared to deal with the multiple and complex challenges of post-conflict reconstruction, which came with the end of the cold war and were con...