“Christian Stalin” – The Paradox of Contemporary Georgian Politics

The following study sets as the starting point of analysis the paradox which one can observe in contemporary Georgian public space. Religious discourse refers to Stalin as a believer and even talks of his contribution to the revival of Christianity in the Soviet Union, despite the vast historical evidence suggesting otherwise. A considerable part of the Georgian population expresses respect or sympathy towards this historical figure. In this research, it is argued that explanations stemming from memory politics, nationalism or from the attempts of turning the image of Stalin into a commodity, fail to substantially address the puzzle and shed light on the phenomenon. Hence, the following study proposes a chain of signification developed within the discourse theory as a theoretical and methodological tool for looking at these developments. The discourse on national identity with Orthodox Christianity as a nodal point explains the possibility of such an image, religious Stalin, coming into existence

Russia and the West: struggle for normative hegemony

In the spring of 2012 Vladimir Putin was elected as the President of Russia for the third time. With his return as the head of the state, new conservative discourse, with normative dimension, started to emerge in the Russian politics. Cases of the Pussy Riot, the gay propaganda law or anti-blasphemy law, are examples of this conservative turn. This discourse also implies portrayal of the West as deviant and perverted, while Russia stands as the last bastion in defense of traditional values. Such articulation is widely supported and enhanced by the Russian Orthodox Church. As it is argued in the present study, this discourse serves not only domestic political purposes, but also provides important bases for the Russian normative hegemony to be projected outwards. Hegemony is defined from the Neo-Gramscian understanding and it is illustrated how the civil society institutions inside Georgia help to articulate, project and maintain the Russian discourse to the Georgian society and subsequently counter an alternative, the Western discourse, expressed within the Association Agreement with the EU. Discourse analysis, more specifically, the discourse theory was applied as a methodology to analyze ongoing discourse. Findings illustrate that the Georgian society is still struggling to associate itself with the Western normative discourse and it can serve basis for the Kremlin to achieve its political goals without brute force, through normative hegemony.http://www.ester.ee/record=b448762

The Choice to Be Made: Georgia's Foreign Policy after the Association Agreement

As a result of the parliamentary elections of October 2016, a political party with a clear anti-NATO and anti- EU political platform made it to the parliament. The Alliance of Patriots was not able to win any majoritarian districts but still managed to receive enough votes to pass the 5% threshold in the country-wide proportional vote. This contribution looks at foreign policy discourses in post-election Georgia and argues that a possible explanation for the rise of such populist parties can be found in the ambiguous messages coming from the West. To be more precise, as the EU's Eastern Partnership does not offer a membership perspective, it becomes harder for the political elite to sell the pro-European foreign policy agenda to the Georgian public. The issue of the two breakaway territories still remains unresolved, Russia maintains a military presence there, while for the foreseeable future NATO and the EU membership is off the table for Georgia. Hence, in such circumstances, unless substantial progress in relations with the Euro-Atlantic institutions is made, the message of the Alliance of Patriots - that pro-Western foreign policy endangers Georgia, leaving it to face the Kremlin alone - could gain more support

“Kaukaasia kriidiring”: Gruusia minapilt ida/lääne neksuses

See väitekiri käsitleb rahvusliku identiteedi ja välispoliitika vahelist suhet Euroopa Liidu ja Venemaa vahele jäävates riikides. Uurimistöö lähtepunktiks on sedastus, et Euroopa Liidu poolt naabruskonnas elluviidavate erinevate poliitiliste projektide osas esineb asümmeetria Euroopa Liidu enda ootuste ning sihtriikide poliitiliste eliitide ootuste vahel. Gruusia juhtumiuuring heidab valgust “limbole”, milles need naaberriigid eksisteerivad: ühelt poolt toob idapartnerlus koos assotsieerimislepingu ja põhjaliku ning laiaulatusliku vabakaubanduspiirkonnaga Gruusia läbi mitmesuguste õiguslike ning tururegulatsioonide ELi standarditele lähemale. Teisalt ei paku ükski nendest projektidest otseseid Euroopa Liiduga liitumise väljavaateid, jättes partnerriigid alalisse „jõudmise“ seisundisse. Seda faasi on kontseptualiseeritud liminaalsusena ning väitekirjas rakendatakse diskursusteooriad koos stigmatiseerimise kontseptsiooniga, uurimaks diskursiivseid konstruktsioone ametlikes dokumentides, kõnedes ja meediaväljaannetes. Analüütilistel eesmärkidel on mitmed paralleelsed diskursused väitekirjas konsolideeritud kaheks põhitüübiks: dominante (läänemeelne) ja sellele vastanduv rahvuslik identiteedikontseptsioon. Domineeriv kontseptsioon konstrueerib Gruusiat osana Euroopa perest, vastandades Euroopat „orientaalsele“ ja „barbaarsele“ Venemaale ning sidudes seeläbi Gruusia välispoliitika tsivilisatsioonilise narratiiviga. Vastanduv artikulatsioon aga käsitleb Gruusiat ida/lääne neksuses paiknevana ja defineerib seetõttu domineerivast diskursusest erinevalt nii Euroopat, kristlust kui sovetlikku minevikku, mis väljendub omakorda teistsuguses välispoliitilises agendas.This dissertation addresses national identity/foreign policy relationship in the countries located between the European Union and Russia. As a starting point, this research takes the asymmetry between what does the European Union expect from the various projects designed to address immediate neighbors and the expectations among the political elites of the countries concerned. The case study of Georgia reveals the “limbo” these countries are in – on the one hand Eastern Partnership together with the Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement brings the whole range of legal or market regulations of Georgia close to the EU’s standards. However, none of these projects imply any membership perspective for the signatory countries thus leaving them in the constant state of becoming. This stage is conceptualized as liminality and discourse theory together with the concept of stigmatization is applied to examine discursive constructions in official documents, speeches and media outlets. For analytical purposes this dissertation pinned down multiple parallel discourses to two basic ones – dominant (pro-Western) and the challenging national identity conceptions. The former constructs Georgia as the part of the European family vis-à-vis the “oriental” and “barbaric” Russia and thus embeds foreign policy trajectory in this civilizational narrative. On the other hand, the challenging articulation of where Georgia belongs at the west/east nexus defines Europe, Christianity or the Soviet past differently from the dominant one, thus reproducing different foreign policy agenda.https://www.ester.ee/record=b537105

Spoiler or Facilitator? Radicalization of the Georgian Orthodox Church and Its Impact on Societal Resilience in Georgia

This article explores the process of creeping radicalization within the Georgian Orthodox Church and its implications for building societal resilience in the country. In doing so, it aims to fill the gap in the literature on the role of dominant religious organizations in resilience building in Georgia and in the broader post-Soviet region. Our analysis ascribes a mostly negative impact to the Georgian Orthodox Church on the country’s societal resilience. We identify two possible mechanisms with which the Georgian Orthodox Church undermines societal resilience in Georgia: (1) by decreasing general trust in society and (2) by inspiring anti-Western narratives, which undermine the basis of Georgia’s national identity

A Tale of Two Orthodoxies: Europe in Religious Discourses of Russia and Georgia

The article seeks to analyze discourses of two Orthodox Churches—Georgian (GOC) and Russian (ROC)—from the vantage point of their various interconnections with Europe and the ensuing representations of Europe framed in religious terms. Of particular salience are relations between ROC and GOC, on the one hand, and the Roman Catholic Church, on the other, as well as the positioning of both ROC and GOC within the global community of Orthodox Churches. The analyzed political circumstances force religious hierarchs of both institutions, even if they share the similar ambivalence toward the West, to differently reproduce the image of Europe. The broader geopolitical picture puts the GOC in the position of supporting government’s foreign policy agenda which goes in opposition to the Kremlin, in spite of the fact that the former has a lot of common with the Moscow Patriarchate when it comes to criticism toward the Western liberal value systems

Nr.99: Georgia's relations with the EU

This interdisciplinary issue of the Caucasus Analytical Digest looks at Georgia’s relations with the EU. The contribution by Shota Kakabadze, a political scientist, examines domestic political debates and Georgia’s resulting foreign policy towards the EU. The second contribution, by sociologist Tinatin Zurabishvili examines public opinion polls. The analysis focuses on the (rather diffuse) profile of those Georgians who claim that the EU threatens Georgia’s traditions. The third contribution, finally, takes an International Relations perspective. Shu Uchida examines the role of the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) and discusses how it could better contribute to conflict resolution in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.ISSN:1867-932