Reasons for the Exclusion of Women from the Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Process in Armenia
Vassileva, Julia · 2026
Situates the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process against a transformed regional security landscape following the 44-day war and the September 2023 offensive that ended Armenian control of Artsakh, and against Armenia's reorientation away from its traditional alliance with Russia toward closer ties with the West. The article examines the role of women in Armenia in this peace process and their postwar opportunities for agency. It finds women's substantive inclusion remains limited due to elite-dominated hard-power negotiation structures and militarized discourses, societal and economic factors, and self-exclusion. Despite this, it identifies openings for women to assert agency in Armenia's new security environment.
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Vassileva, Julia 2026. Reasons for the Exclusion of Women from the Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Process in Armenia. Nationalities Papers, Vol. 54, No. 1, pp. 58–76 (Cambridge University Press); DOI 10.1017/nps.2025.2. https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2025.2
What this offers a reader
Who is actually in the room when Armenia negotiates, and who is not.
Peer-reviewed in a top-tier nationalism journal; open access.
Half the country has almost no voice in the negotiations that will decide its future.
Why women are largely absent from Armenia's peace negotiations.
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