ABSTRACT
Referring to the selection of Heydar Aliyev to lead Soviet Azerbaijan in 1969, John Willerton noted that Aliev's selection signaled the application of a particular set of solutions to the stagnating republic: a set of solutions grounded in the reestablishment of discipline within the hierarchy of party and state bodies. Armenia had rapidly exploited the rare opportunity provided by Azerbaijan's chaos and anarchy. Moreover, the conquests of 1993 marked the zenith of Armenia's international position. By 1997, Heydar Aliyev had affected a remarkable turnaround in Azerbaijan. The country was now both politically and economically stable. Azerbaijan under Heydar Aliyev's rule is best described as a semiauthoritarian society, a concept defined by Marina Ottaway as an ambiguous system that combines rhetorical acceptance of liberal democracy, the existence of some formal democratic institutions, and respect for a limited sphere of civil and political liberties with essentially illiberal or even authoritarian traits.
