Conflict and Peace in Central Eurasia: Towards Explanations and Understandings -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- List of Tables and Figures -- 1 Introduction -- The Regions -- The Structure of the Book -- 2 Theoretical Framework -- Ethno-Territorial Conflict -- Ethnos and Ethnicity -- State, Nation and Nationalism -- The Causes of Ethno-Territorial Conflict -- Power of Culture: Religion, Language and Ethnic Kinship -- Power of History: Traumatic Peak Experiences -- Political and Economic Grievances -- State in Disarray -- Ethno-Political Systems and Opportunity Structures -- Ethno-Geographic Configuration -- Explaining Ethno-Territorial Conflict: A Theoretical Model -- 3 The Legacy of the Iranian and Soviet Ethno-Political Systems and Policies -- The Soviet Union and Its Successor States -- The Soviet Nationalities Policy: Historical Underpinnings -- The Soviet Union on the Eve of Its Collapse and Beyond -- Iran -- Ethnic and Religious Policies in Iran: Historical Underpinnings -- Territorial Administrative Policies in Iran: Historical Underpinnings -- Ethnic, Religious and Territorial Administrative Policies in Iran: The Contemporary Situation -- Conclusion: Ethno-Political Systems and Ethno-Territorial Conflict -- 4 Methods -- Ethno-Territorial Groups and Encounters -- Ethno-Territorial Conflict -- Explaining Conditions -- Analyzing the Dataset -- 5 Ethno-Territorial Conflicts in the Caucasus and Central Asia -- Political-Territorial History of the South Caucasus -- The Karabakh Conflict -- Ethno-Territorial Conflicts in Georgia: South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- Political-Territorial History of the North Caucasus -- The Ossetian-Ingush Conflict over Prigorodny -- Wars in Chechnya -- Political Territorial History of Central Asia -- The Tajikistani Civil War and the Role Played by Tajiks, Uzbeks and Pamiris.

Uzbek-Kyrgyz Conflict in Southern Kyrgyzstan -- Conclusion: Patterns of Ethno-Territorial Conflict -- 6 Analysis: Searching for Explanations -- The Myth of Shatterbelts -- Testing the Explaining Conditions Separately -- Qualitative Comparative Analysis -- Conclusion -- 7 Conclusions -- Research Results -- Discussion -- Recommendations -- References -- Index.