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The architecture of annexation? Russia's bilateral agreements with South Ossetia and Abkhazia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Thomas Ambrosio  and
William A. Lange
Thomas Ambrosio*
Affiliation:
Department of Criminal Justice and Political Science, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA
William A. Lange
Affiliation:
Department of History, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA
*
∗Corresponding author. Email: thomas.ambrosio@ndsu.edu
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Abstract

Following the August War of 2008, Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. Both territories remain dependent upon Moscow for their security and economic survival, and they remain dominated militarily, economically, and even politically by their northern patron. These relationships are structured, in part, by a series of bilateral agreements signed since September 2008, which have created a comprehensive legal architecture which, in turn, deeply affects the state- and nation-building processes in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. This article examines 78 agreements signed between Russia and these territories between 2008 and 2015 in order to better understand these processes and how they interact with and are influenced by their respective relationships with the Russian Federation. It groups these agreements into three categories: the 2008 “friendship” agreements which created the initial baseline for the bilateral relationship; the numerous, more narrowly defined documents which fleshed-out this relationship; and the “alliance” and “integration” agreements signed with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, respectively, through which Moscow sought to take its relations with these territories to a qualitatively new level. Of particular focus is the degree to which these territories exhibited signs of independent agency and formal autonomy, as well as the differences between them.

Keywords

South OssetiaAbkhaziaRussiastate-buildingnation-buildingtreaties
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 44 , Issue 5 , September 2016 , pp. 673 - 693
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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