1st Edition

War and Revolution in the Caucasus Georgia Ablaze

Edited By Stephen F. Jones Copyright 2010
    176 Pages
    by Routledge

    174 Pages
    by Routledge

    The South Caucasus has traditionally been a playground of contesting empires. This region, on the edge of Europe, is associated in Western minds with ethnic conflict and geopolitical struggles in August 2008. Yet, another war broke out in this distant European periphery as Russia and Georgia clashed over the secessionist territory of South Ossetia. The war had global ramifications culminating in deepening tensions between Russia on the one hand, and Europe and the USA on the other. Speculation on the causes and consequences of the war focused on Great Power rivalries and a new Great Game, on oil pipeline routes, and Russian imperial aspirations.

    This book takes a different tack which focuses on the domestic roots of the August 2008 war. Collectively the authors in this volume present a new multidimensional context for the war. They analyse historical relations between national minorities in the region, look at the link between democratic development, state-building, and war, and explore the role of leadership and public opinion. Digging beneath often simplistic geopolitical explanations, the authors give the national minorities and Georgians themselves, the voice that is often forgotten by Western analysts.

    This book was based on a special issue of  Central Asian Survey.

    Preface: Georgia on Everybody’s Mind: The Aftermath of War  Professor Ronald Suny, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

    Introduction: Georgia's Domestic Front  Professor Stephen Jones, Mount Holyoke College, Mass., USA

    The Colonial Context

    ‘David and Goliath’ and ‘Georgians in the Kremlin’: A post-colonial perspective on conflict in post-Soviet Georgia  Dr Laurence Broers, Conciliation Resources, UK

    Managing Ethnic Diversity in Georgia: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back  Dr Jonathan Wheatley, Centre for Democracy, Aarau, Switzerland

    The Revolutionary State

    The Dangers of Reform: State Building and National Minorities in Georgia  Assoc. Professor Julie George, Queen’s College, CUNY, USA

    The August 2008 War in Georgia: From Ethnic Conflict to Border Wars  Dr Vicken Cheterian, Director of Programs, Cimera, Switzerland

    A Polarized Democracy

    Compromising Democracy-State Building in Saakashvili’s Georgia  Professor Lincoln Mitchell, Columbia University, New York, USA

    Saakashvili in the Public Eye  Dr Nana Sumbadze, Co-Director, Institute for Policy Studies, Tbilisi, Georgia

    The Post-Revolutionary Economy

    Georgia’s Economy: Post-revolutionary Development and Post-war Difficulties  Dr Lado Papava, Senior Fellow, Georgian Foundation for Security and International Studies, Tbilisi, Georgia

    Corruption and Organized Crime in Georgia before and after the ‘Rose Revolution’  Professor Alexandre Kukhianidze, Department of Political Scienc,e Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia

    An Alternative Perspective

    The View from Abkhazia of South Ossetia Ablaze  Dr Paula Garb, University of California, Irvine, USA

    Biography

    Stephen Jones is a Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, USA. He has studied Georgian politics and society for 30 years and has written over 80 articles and chapters on Georgia and the South Caucasus. His recent book Socialism in Georgian Colors: The European Road to Social Democracy, 1883-1917, was published by Harvard University Press in 2005. He is currently working on a book, Georgia: A Political Life, 1991-2007, to be published by I.B.Tauris, London.