De Waal is a senior fellow with Carnegie Europe, specializing in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region.
Tom de Waal is a senior fellow with Carnegie Europe, specializing in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region.
He is the author of numerous publications about the region. The second edition of his book The Caucasus: An Introduction (Oxford University Press) was published in 2018. He is also the author of Great Catastrophe: Armenians and Turks in the Shadow of Genocide (Oxford University Press, 2015) and of the authoritative book on the Nagorny Karabakh conflict, Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War (NYU Press, second edition 2013).
From 2010 to 2015, de Waal worked for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC. Before that he worked extensively as a journalist in both print and for BBC radio. From 1993 to 1997, he worked in Moscow for the Moscow Times, the Times of London, and the Economist, specializing in Russian politics and the situation in Chechnya. He co-authored (with Carlotta Gall) the book Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus (NYU Press, 1997), for which the authors were awarded the James Cameron Prize for Distinguished Reporting.
What would it take to make Russia more comfortable with its neighbors, the EU, and NATO?
The three South Caucasian countries have found a way to manage their relationship with Russia. If their leaders do nothing stupid to alienate their own populations, they stand a good chance of navigating 2019 without a confrontation with Moscow.
President Poroshenko hopes to win votes from the issue of church autonomy. But it is a risky strategy, and some commentators are warning about potential violence.
Moscow’s recognition of both Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states in 2008 has benefited no one—including the two territories and Russia itself.
Armenia’s new prime minister has so far taken a tough stance on the unresolved Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan. The moribund Karabakh peace process needs shaking up—but not too much.
Outgoing President Serzh Sargsyan is likely to remain Armenia’s de facto leader when constitutional changes soon kick in. Sargsyan has diversified Armenia’s economy and foreign policy. Will he continue that trend?
A mood of realism around the Transdniestria conflict, supported by Russia, is leading to areas of de facto integration. The Moldovan government is cautious, but this is an opportunity for more international engagement.
Five years after he was detained, the authority of Azerbaijan’s best-known political prisoner is growing.
Kyiv politics is making the humanitarian problems of eastern Ukraine even worse.
Sign up to receive Judy Dempsey’s Strategic Europe updates in your inbox!
Stay connected to Judy Dempsey’s Strategic Europe wtih a new smartphone app for Android and iOS devices