Pashaieva K. Factors of Political Transformation of countries of the South Caucasus

The thesis is devoted to the study of the factors of the political transformation of the South Caucasus region, which includes post-communist countries – Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. The scientific novelty of the obtained results lies within the analysis of political transformation in the countries of the South Caucasus through the prism of studying the factors that have the greatest influence on its course. The analysis is based on the development of a wide range of sources on the problems of political and systemic transformation of the post-Soviet space. For the Ukrainian political science, the work is one of the first attempts to research the issues of the factors of the political transformation of the countries of the region collectively. The most important feature of the political transformation of the South Caucasian countries is the interaction between the internal and external factors, influencing the transition process. The study identified the following actors which have not only an impact on the transformation process but also their interests in the region – the EU, the United States, and the Russian Federation. Thus, after gaining independence Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia headed to build a liberal democratic society, the processes of democratization and liberalization in the region proved more difficult and even met some resistance, which was directly related to internal and external factors of transformation.