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Ilham Aliyev and the Making of Azerbaijan

palladiummag.com · 4,186 words · saved by 1 readers

Statecraft has been tricky for the post-Soviet republics. Independence was unexpected, and the ability to function as a sovereign state had either atrophied or was completely unfamiliar. Elites across the former Soviet Union struggled to keep power. Belarusian leaders stuck to what they knew, embracing a kind of neo-Sovietism and dooming the country to terminal decline. Ukraine and Armenia’s political elites tried to pivot away from the Russian sphere and ended up with war as their punishment. Coming out of a long history of Russian rule and decades as an oil supplier to the Eastern Bloc, Azerbaijan seemed unlikely to become a leading regional power in the post-Soviet world. The new country had a rough beginning: neighboring Armenia claimed military victory in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1994, and Soviet dissolution kicked off a recession that lasted until 1995. But under the steady and authoritarian rule of Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan is now undergoing a category upgrade i

President.az/Ilham Aliyev visits Gubadly and Zangilan Districts, 2020 Statecraft has been tricky for the post-Soviet republics. Independence was unexpected, and the ability to function as a sovereign state had either atrophied or was completely unfamiliar. Elites across the former Soviet Union struggled to keep power. Belarusian leaders stuck to what they knew, embracing a kind of neo-Sovietism and dooming the country to terminal decline. Ukraine and Armenia’s political elites tried to pivot away from the Russian sphere and ended up with war as their punishment. Coming out of a long history of

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