The Autonomy of South Tyrol: A Model for Conflict Resolution in the Post-Soviet Space?

The project coordinated by IAI in cooperation with the University of Trento and the Center for Strategic Studies (SAM) in Baku aimed to analyse the legal framework of the autonomy statute of South Tyrol by identifying the principal points of the model as well as the way in which it was achieved and tested the possible applicability of its rationale to the Abkhaz and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cases.
In order to reach this final goal the project tackled the statute of the de facto states during Soviet times, examining how the rights of ethnic minorities were defined and how their relationships with their respective socialist republics were regulated. With this, the research tried to understand what were the shortcomings of the Soviet model of autonomy that caused their disaffection and violence. In the post war period, various peace proposals have been drafted by the governments of the metropolitan states. However, none were successful or at least attractive for further discussion. The final phase of the research was to analyse whether there are some principles of the South Tyrol model which could be integrated into existing (or new) peace proposals in order to make these more attractive to the conflict parties.

Conferences
»  30 November 2012: seminar on "The autonomy of Trentino/South Tyrol: A model for conflict resolution in the post-Soviet space?"
»  27 September 2012: seminar on "Assessing the peace process over Nagorno-Karabakh"