Two weeks after heavy fighting broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh, the conflict has only intensified. Azerbaijan, emboldened by Turkey’s explicit support, is resolved to gain ground against Armenia, which feels alone in dealing with the crisis. Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, has been bombed with rockets, drones, and cluster bombs over the past fortnight, and an estimated 75,000 people —about half the population— have fled to Armenia. Besides, the Nagorno-Karabakh army has bombed Azerbaijani towns such as Terter, Horadiz, and Ganja. This new war in the South Caucasus has so far killed hundreds, including both soldiers and civilians. Keep reading

Self-determination is one of the great keywords in last century’s politics. Crossing the boundaries of legal and academic debate, it has gradually been incorporated as a programmatic goal of national movements throughout the world. Such a popularity has not been, however, accompanied by a consensus view, but rather by the difficulties of becoming an effective legal concept. Moreover, within the new global context in which we live, self-determination is faced with challenges of a magnitude unknown so far, as are other major concepts that have articulated the normative foundations of the political organisation at the global level in recent history. Keep reading