Area (2006) 38.4, 390–401 ISSN 0004-0894 © The Authors. Journal compilation © Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers) 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Asking the right questions: environmental conflict in the case of Azerbaijan Shannon O’Lear and Angela Gray Department of Geography, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA Email: olear@ku.edu Revised manuscript received 19 July 2006 This paper contributes an empirical test of key themes of the literature on natural resource conflict. Survey and interview data from an ongoing project in Azerbaijan provide insights into an unexpected lack of conflict in Azerbaijan related to the environment, resources and energy despite the predictions of resource conflict literature. We contend that questions about public perceptions about the environment and other daily concerns are critical if we are to understand who is likely (or unlikely) to be involved in conflict and why. The data presented in this paper demonstrate that Azerbaijani citizens rank environmental and resource issues among their immediate concerns and their top concerns for the country. However, compared to other day-to-day concerns such as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and economic concerns, environment- related concerns do not appear to be sufficient to motivate widespread violent conflict or citizen dissent related to environmental or natural resource conditions. Key words: Azerbaijan, Caucasus, resource conflict, energy, survey, interview Introduction This paper contributes an empirical investigation of assumptions – both implicit and explicit – of literature on environmental conflicts. Despite the initial appeal of arguments that resource conditions contribute to conflict, that literature is attracting scrutiny on different fronts. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that although resource and conflict variables may be correlated in large-N studies, the focus of analysis of much of that literature omits from consideration the importance of human concerns and particularities of place. The contention here is that the context of place matters if we are to build a more thorough understanding of human–environment relationships and develop appropriate policy measures for managing these relationships. More than merely considering the resource or environmental conditions of a particular place, it is also necessary to assess how social responses influence whether or not or how conflict in its many forms might actually emerge since humans – not resources – engage in or avoid conflict. Our hypothesis is that even if there is widespread concern about the environment or resource-related issues in a particular place, any form of violence or dissent over these issues may be precluded if other day-to-day concerns eclipse environmental concerns. Following a brief survey of predominant strands of the environmental conflict literature, this paper examines Azerbaijan as an appropriate case study to illustrate why some of the arguments linking resources and conflict do not necessarily hold. Survey and interview data from an ongoing project focused on citizen concerns and priorities provide insights into an unexpected lack of conflict in Azerbaijan related to the environment, resources and energy despite predictions of resource conflict literature. Themes in resource conflict literature In the growing literature on resource conflict, there are different perspectives linking natural resources and conflict. One segment of the literature points to