ABSTRACT:

This article critically reviews theories which explain roots of ethnic conflicts. It is important to note that there are several theories analyzing conditions under which ethnicity is a source of conflict. They include theories, such as ‘primordialist, institutional, political entrepreneurs and an interethnic competition over resources and rights’. Another theoretical approach is the ‘conceptual framework’ proposed by Blagojevic to understand conditions for ethnic conflict (2009: 1). Blagojevic (2009: 1) argues that ‘ethnic conflict occurs when a particular set of factors and conditions converge: a major structural crisis; presence of historical memories of inter-ethnic grievances; institutional factors that promote ethnic intolerance; manipulation of historical memories by political entrepreneurs to evoke emotions such as fear, resentment and hate toward the “other”; and an inter-ethnic competition over resources and rights’. In this paper, Blagojevic’s conceptual framework is applied to the case Nagorno-Karabakh to explain causes of ethnic conflict.