We are a stone's throw away from frozen conflicts and areas of instability.
Frozen conflicts exist in Western Sahara and Cyprus, but the term often refers to Post-Soviet disputes.
There, the boundary between war and peace is blurred; "frozen conflicts" is a synonym for wars without end.
Frozen conflicts are typically created as a result of settlements in countries beset with deep-seated ethnic tensions.
Nagorno-Karabakh is one of several so-called frozen conflicts, mostly on Europe's borders, that have the potential to erupt at any time.
These clashes — in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and elsewhere — are often referred to as frozen conflicts because they have not been resolved over many years.
Those who argue that independence for Kosovo has set a bad precedent tend to talk about frozen conflicts outside the European Union — Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in Georgia, and Transnistria in Moldova.
The answer, the authors suggest, may be political: a preference for sons could be strong because all three countries have "frozen conflicts" which "might greatly diminish women's bargaining powers such that men's preference for sons determines family planning".
Putin's playbook, "Frozen conflicts for beginners", consists of the invasion of a sovereign country on false pretences, propping up Russophile regional authorities, making plans for a referendum on self-determination, and scaremongering Russian speakers into thinking that they face an existential threat.
In this context, one must assume that recent events have transformed the "Ukrainian question" into the "Crimean question" for the central Asian leaders. 1) The "frozen" conflicts inherited from the collapse of the Soviet Union can become hot again at any moment, especially if Moscow seeks to make it happen under the pretext of protecting minorities or Russian-speaking populations.
After the mid-1990s, this region had become a patchwork of ceasefires and "frozen" conflicts, thanks in part to Russia.
