monitor the conflict resolution process and express its opinion . Moreover , in a conflict resolution process full of uncertainties and in the context of existing distrust between the negotiating parties , the publicly declared positions are important to establish communication between the adversaries .
In the context of Armenia , the recent 44-day Karabakh War has shown the particular importance of this research , the topic for which was chosen before the war broke out . The war that disrupted the ongoing conflict resolution process allows examining and distinctly seeing how the Armenian Prime Minister ' s public statements influenced the development of the negotiation process . It also gives the ability to trace how many of his initially stated positions corresponded to the positions publicly declared by him later , mainly after signing the 2020 Joint Statement on Karabakh .
In order to understand how public statements by leaders are relevant to the conflict resolution process , based on Pashinian ’ s case , the study set out to answer the following question : 1 ) how did Pashinian ’ s publicly declared positions impact the Karabakh negotiation process ; 2 ) do the declarations made by Pashinian on issues related to the Karabakh conflict change over the time , specifically in the preand post-war periods , and if yes , why ?
The hypotheses worked out to test are the following : 1 ) Pashinian ’ s declared positions contributed to the disruption of the negotiation process leading to a fullscale war ; 2 ) Pashinian has changed his position on a number of significant issues on the Karabakh issue with time , specifically after the 44-day Karabakh War , to justify the conditions signed by Armenia in the 2020 Joint Statement on Karabakh , preserve public support and stay in power ;
Thus , taking into consideration the above-mentioned points and realizing that the leader ' s public statements are of particular importance to the conflict resolution process , the topic was voluntarily chosen as a matter of thorough research .
Literature review
Conflict resolution is a complex phenomenon that is affected by a number of factors such as the situation on the battlefield , the domestic situation in the conflicting countries , the objectives and goals of the conflicting parties , etc . The positions taken by the leaders of the countries also have a significant impact on the conflict resolution process and have the capacity to determine the development of the negotiations . Any conflict resolution process is full of uncertainties and unpredictability , because of the distrust that naturally exists between the conflicting parties coming to the negotiation table and the public questioning the ability of
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