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On June 12, 2025, a beautiful vision took center stage during a virtual summit titled Pax Iberia: Peace in the South Caucasus, hosted by Georgia’s University of Tbilisi Institute of Peace Studies and Virginia’s George Mason University.
The goal? To explore fresh pathways for unity in a region often pulled between global powers. My contribution? Arguing for a bold “third way” — neither Russian nor EU-aligned — built on grassroots economies and local governance. Think of it as a recipe for interdependence, inspired by India’s decades-old philosophy of nonalignment.
The idea of peace zones here isn’t new. For over 20 years, organizations like IMTD Georgia and the Gandhi Foundation Georgia have kept the flame alive, sparked by peace scholar Johan Galtung’s 1997 proposal for demilitarized borderlands. While initially aspirational, these dialogues achieved something revolutionary: they brought civil society and policymakers to the same table in a post-Soviet landscape dominated by division.
Yet progress unfolded against a grim backdrop: Armenia and Azerbaijan’s bitter stalemate over Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia and Russia’s tensions over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Today, however, cracks in these frozen conflicts are emerging. Shifting geopolitics — particularly the West’s focus on Ukraine — have softened borders. In February 2025, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan inked a trilateral pact, followed weeks later by a draft peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan to demilitarize their shared frontier. Though Armenia’s constitutional reforms have delayed final signatures, the intent is clear: a pivot from perpetual strife to cautious reconciliation.
This isn’t trivial. Armenia pushes for unity despite 100,000 displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh (2020–2023).Azerbaijan seeks peace after years asserting territorial claims. Could this fragile momentum birth something bigger?.
Enter India’s playbook. Once championing nonalignment (now rebranded as “strategic engagement” by Foreign Minister Jaishankar), India prioritizes trade and development without ideological baggage. While South Asia hasn’t fully mirrored this, India’s sheer scale proves regional cooperation isn’t fantasy. For the Caucasus, adopting such “strategic autonomy” could mean economic integration — think cross-border trade replacing militarized checkpoints.
Here’s the kicker: local economies matter. Azerbaijan, traditionally oil-reliant, now eyes agricultural expansion. Georgia’s upland farms could aggregate produce for regional markets. Armenia might diversify exports. Together, they could build a self-sustaining network less vulnerable to global shocks.
Sound unrealistic? India’s post-independence Sarvodaya movement offers a blueprint. By empowering villages through cooperatives, handicrafts, and small industries, it forged a “nonviolent economy” rooted in community — a model still thriving via self-help groups and farmer collectives. Bottom line: when neighborhoods thrive together, nations (and regions) follow. “By empowering villages through cooperatives, handicrafts, and small industries, it forged a “nonviolent economy” rooted in community “.
Could the Caucasus become a trailblazer? Consider the Peacebuilders Forum; India’s quest to spotlight global peacebuilding pioneers — Costa Rica (no military), Japan (anti-nuclear advocacy), Switzerland (neutrality). Imagine a “P-7” coalition of peace architects, with the Caucasus offering its own innovation: a regional peace zone.
Yes, skeptics abound. In a world of military buildups and realpolitik, prioritizing cooperation feels idealistic. But as borders thaw and grassroots networks grow, the Caucasus has a rare chance to rewrite its story. After all, peace isn’t just treaties — it’s farmers trading across former battlefields, villages sharing resources, and neighbors choosing shared prosperity over old grudges.
As scholar Jean Paul Lederach reminds us, peace requires “moral imagination.” For the South Caucasus, that imagination is now flickering to life.