“The waiting and not knowing can be agonizing”: Tracing the power of emotions in a prolonged conflict in the South Caucasus

Moving beyond the usual strategic and national issues of war in international
relations, feminist theorizing on aspects of war has stressed the pressing need
to depict it as something experienced by individuals. This study addresses this
need by considering the critical case of the protracted conflict over the
Nagorny Karabakh region in the South Caucasus. Despite the 1994 ceasefire,
no satisfactory settlement for all the parties involved in the conflict has yet
been reached. In fact, since the four-day war in April 2016, the situation has
become even more tense, with an increased risk of renewed hostilities. This
article uses empirical research with women in Nagorny Karabakh to examine
the impact of this protracted conflict through an analysis of emotions in their
everyday lives. It argues that fear, grief and trauma not only affect individual
women but also create a collective identity amongst them that is defined by
compliance with the heightened militarization of society in this region. In this
way, this study shows that emotions feed into the persistence of patriarchal
relations. By exploring women’s emotions, this article contributes to the
growing literature in international relations that examines war as lived
experience.