“EUROPE” AND “THE WEST” IN GEORGIA’S POLITICAL IMAGINATION AND NATIONALIST DISCOURSE
Abstract
The political upheavals of the 2000s caused by the post-authoritarian landslide pushed to fore the problem of nations and nationalism and the question of further development routes.1
In 2003, President Shevardnadze lost his post: this marked a turning point in Georgia’s history, which has since been grossly hyperbolized within Georgia’s nationalist discourse. T. Avaliani, for example, has the following to say on this score: “In November 2003, after two civil wars and 12 years of post-Soviet turmoil and suspense, Georgia was the first among the Sovietsuccessor states to tear down the Iron Curtain of the Russian Empire. The Rose Revolution, which liberated the Georgian people from imperial dictatorship and communist legacy, began building a new, civilized, and democratic state.”2
Today, the revolution is seen as a key event in Georgia’s current political history. G. Areshidze, a prominent political scientist, commented on the post-revolutionary situation as follows: the new elites inherited a country with a “quasi-balanced constitutional foundation, legislative power … a business community that the state could not control … and several semi-democratic political parties.
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In the 2000s, East European intellectuals revived their interest in the problems of nations and nationalism, ethnic-ity and identity, and development of political nations after the relatively subdued interest in these subjects in the latter half of the 1990s (see: R. Kalanj, “Liberalno i komunitaristièko poimanje identiteta. Prilog analizi identiteta hrvatskog društva,”SE, Vol. 14, No. 1-2, 2005, pp. 53-73; Idem, “Zov identiteta kao prijeporno znanstveno pitanje,” SE, Vol. 12, No. 1-2, 2003,pp. 47-68; M. Lutz-Bachmann, “Svjetska dravnost i ljudska prava nakon kraja naslijeðene nacionalne drave’,” PM,Vol. XXXVI, Br. 3, 1999, S. 23-33.
T. Avaliani, “Utrachennye nadezhdy gruzinskogo naroda,” available at [http://lazare.ru/post/28816/].
G. Areshidze, “Gosudarstvennoe stroitelstvo i pravlenie v novoy Gruzii,” in: Kavkaz. Ezhegodnik KISMI, ed. by A. Iskanderian, Erevan, 2006, p. 47.
For more on the specific features and trends of the development and functioning of the nationalist discourse dur-ing Saakashvili’s presidency, see: J.S. George, “Minority Political Inclusion in Mikheil Saakashvili’s Georgia,” EAS, Vol. 60,No. 7, 2008, pp. 1151-1175.
For more on the European trend in Georgia’s foreign policy, see: D. Fean, “Making Good Use of the EU in Geor-gia: The ‘Eastern Partnership’ and Conflict Policy,” Russie.Nei.Visions, September 2009, 19 pp.
The political elites of Georgia are concerned about the mounting Russian nationalism and radical sentiments,which they describe as imperial. It seems that their political fears were fed by the Russian nationalists’ obviously inten-sified activities during President Putin’s two terms; this is best illustrated by a much greater number of nationalist and so-call patriotic publications (see, for example: L. Byzov, “Russkoe samosoznanie i rossiiskaia natsia,” AGZh, No. 10,2007, pp. 14-33; A. Bystritskiy, Dm. Shusharin, “Imia natsii,” AGZh, No. 10, 2007, pp. 2-11; V. Lukin, “Globalnaia rol Rossii i evropeyskaia identichnost,” RGP, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2008, pp. 8-17; A. Makarkin, “Rossia ili Rus?” AGZh, No. 10,2007, pp. 34-47).
For more on similar political leaders and factors of nationalism, see: N. Vladisavljevic, “Institutional Power and the Rise of Miloeviæ,” Nationalities Papers, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2004, pp. 183-205.
For more on the political dynamics in Georgia before August 2008, see: T. German, “Abkhazia and South Osse-tia: Collision of Georgian and Russian Interests,” Russie.Nei.Visions, June 2006, 19 pp.
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For more on the interconnection between flare-ups of ethnic nationalism and the political crises, see: S.J. Tambi-ah, “The Nation-State in Crisis and the Rise of Ethnonationalism,” in: The Politics of Difference: Ethnic Premises in a World of Power, ed. by E.N. Wilmsen, P. McAllister, Chicago, London, 1996, pp. 124-143.
For more on similar processes in Europe, see: D. Grubiša, “Kriza demokracije u Europi: izmeðu nacionalne drave i europske vladavine,” AHPD, Br. 7, 2006, pp. 125-148; Ch. Krupnick, “Expecting More from Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe,” The Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, Vol. 14, No. 3, 2005, pp. 149-165.
For more detail, see: V. Chernov, “Revolutsia i poriadok,” Palitychnaia sfera, No. 8, 2007, p. 43.
For more on the nationalist content of civil rituals, see: M. Azaryahu, State Cults: Independence Celebrations and Soldier Memorials, 1948-1956, Sde-Boker, 1995; R. Kook, “Changing Representations of National Identity and Political Legitimacy: Independence Day Celebrations in Israel, 1952-1998,” NI, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2005, pp. 151-171.
Georgian for the Georgian flag.
Georgian for the Georgian blood.
See: K. Baratašvili, Mahmadiani mesxebis kartuli gvarebi, Tbilisi, 1997; J. Gvasalia, Agmosavlet Sakartvelos is-toriuli geograpi, Tbilisi, 1991; V. Lortkipanidze, Samckxe-Davaxeti XIX-XX saukuneebshi, Tbilisi, 1994; N. Cereteli,Kartveli da osi kxalkxebis urtiertobis istoridan, Tbilisi, 1991; E. Babunašvili, Th. Uturgaidze, Anton pirvelis gramatika da misi erovnul-istoriuli mnišvneloba, Tbilisi, 1991; P. Kotinovi, L. Mepharishvili, Ilia Èavèavadze da sagramatiko paekroba (1886-1894), Tbilisi, 1992 (all in Georgian).
For more detail, see: M. Dogan, “Comparing the Decline of Nationalisms in Western Europe: The Generation-al Dynamic,” ISSJ, No. 136, 1993, pp. 177-198; idem, “Nationalism in Europe: Decline in the West, Revival in the East,” NEP, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1997, pp. 66-85; R. Jenkins, “The Ambiguity of Europe,” ES, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2008, pp. 153-176; E. Moxon-Browne, “Eastern and Western Europe: Towards a New European Identity?” CPol, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1997,pp. 27-34.
For more on the European idea in Georgia, see: G. Nodia, “Obraz Zpada v gruzinskom soznanii,” in: Etnicheskie i regionalnye konflikty v Yevrazii, Vol. 3: Mezhdunarodnyi opyt razresheniya etnicheskikh konfliktov, ed. by B. Coppieters,E. Remacle, A. Zverev, Ves Mir, Moscow, 1997.
For more on the theoretical aspects of the problem, see: V. Goldsurdi, Izmislyaneto na Ruritania. Imperializmt na voobrazhenieto, Sofia, 2004 (see also: A. Strandzheva, Evropa i podvizhnosta na kulturnite i granitsi, available at [http://
ww.bulgc18.com/modernoto/astrandzheva.htm], both in Bulgarian).
See: D. Lang, Gruziny. Khraniteli sviatyn (Russian translation by S. Fedorov of The Georgians), Moscow, 2004.
See: “Kmoba” and “kma” are social groups in medieval Georgia who, historians believe, were identical to the West European feudal estates.
See: D. Lang, op. cit., pp. 12-14; 108-111, 134.
I. Bakhtadze, “‘Russkiy factor’ v kulturoistoricheskoy oreintatsii Gruzii,” p. 57, available at [http://anthropology.ru/u/texts/bakhtadze/ _04.html].
L. Berdzenishvili, “Gruzia—Evropa ili Azia,” available at [http://dialogs.org.ua/crossroad_full.php?m_id=216].
For more detail, see: Umkämpfte Vergangenheit. Geschichtsbilder, Erinnungen and Vergangenheitspolitik im in-ternationalen Vergleich, Hrsg. P. Bock, E. Wolfrum, Göttingen, 1999.
I. Bakhtadze, op. cit., p. 58.
J. Friedman, “History, Political Identity and Myth,” Lietuvos etnologija. Lithuanian Ethnology. Studies in Social
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I. Bakhtadze, op. cit., p. 59.
For more on the role of the intellectuals in transit societies, see: A. Paanin, “Uloga intelektualaca u Novoj Evropi,”AHPD, Br. 6, 2007, pp. 331-339; “Intelektualy: pa-za mezhami kampetentsyi. Razmova z Igaram Babkovym,” Palitychnaia sfera, No. 4, 2005, pp. 5-9.
For more on the way M. Mamardashvili is perceived within the Georgian intellectual tradition, see: Z. Androni-kashvili, G. Maysuradze, “Gruzia-1990: filogema nezavisimosti, ili Neizvlechenny opyt,” NLO, No. 83, 2007, available at [http://magazines.russ.ru/nlo/2007/83/an10-pr.html].
Works on the history of Europe and Georgian-European contacts show that Georgia has a lot of interest in Europe (see: A. Grishikashvili, Polonet-sakartvelos urtiertoba, Tbilisi, 2006, 274 pp., in Georgian).
The term defies any adequate translation into English, the closest term being “Englishness.”
See: Z. Shatirishvili, “‘Staraia’ intelligentsia n ‘novye’ intellektually. Gruzinskiy opyt,” NZ, No. 1, 2003, p. 47.
V.A. Shnirelman, Voyny pamiati. Mify, identichnost i politika v Zakavkazie, Moscow, 2003, p. 18.
A. Jokhadze, “Rossia glazami gruzina,” available at [http://www.apsny.ge/society/1177005060.php].
L. Berdzenishvili, op. cit.
“Raindoba” and “midnuroba” (Geor.) are terms that described the concepts of “knighthood” and “courteous”typical of Western medieval culture.
M. Lordkipanidze, Georgia in the XI-XII Centuries [http://www.georgianweb.com/history/mariam/].
“Agara” (Geor.) is identical to the West European “feod”; “aznauri” (Geor.), feudal lords; “mokme” (Geor.),knights; “glekxi” (Geor.), peasants.
“Gruzia, nakazannaia za evropeizm, prosit podderzhki u Evropy,” available at [http://www.apsny.ge/analytics/
php].
A. Kusko, V. Taki, “‘Kto my?’ Istoricheskiy vybor: rumynskaia natsia ili moldavskaia gosudartvennot,” Ab Im-perio, No. 1, 2003, p. 485.
[http://www.apsny.ge/analytics/1163794329.php].
V. Rukhadze, “Gruzinskaia voennaia strategia dolzhna pereiti na partizanskuiu taktiku,: available at [http://
ww.apsny.ge/interview/1247181355.php].
G. Nodia, “Georgia: Dimensions of Insecurity,” in: Statehood and Security: Georgia after the Rose Revolution, ed.
y B. Coppieters, R. Legvold, Cambridge (Mass.), 2005, p. 69.
For more detail, see V.A. Shnirelman, op. cit., p. 12.
For more on the European idea as a factor designed to overcome marginality, see: A. Horolets, “Sram od zaosta-losti: simbolièka konstrukcija Europe u poljskom tisku,” ET, Vol. 38, 2008, pp. 61-80.
Early in the 1990s Jürgen Habermas warned about similar problems (see J. Habermas, “Citizenship and National Identity: Some Reflections on the Future of Europe,” Praxis International, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1992, pp. 1-19) with which the transit and nationalizing states of Eastern and Central Europe have to cope with (see: Z. Csergo, J.M. Goldgeier, “Nation-alist Strategies and European Integration,” Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 2. No.1, 2004, pp. 21-37; M. Kasapoviæ, “Region-alna komparatistika i Istoèna Europa: kako se raspala Istoèna Europa,” AHPD, Br. 5, 2007, pp. 74-97; V. Vujèiæ, “Nacion-alizam, graðanstvo i strategije integracije u Europsku Uniju,” AHPD, Br. 6, 2007, pp. 99-117.
D. Barbakadze, “Mezhdu ‘nichto’ i ‘nechto:’ nablyudenia gruzinskogo pisatelia,” available at [http://
agazines.russ.ru/nz/2003/1/barb.html].
Quoted from: G. Nodia, op. cit., p. 80 (see also: W. Pfaff, “Europe Has Historical Limits: The Baltics vs. the Cau-casus,” The International Herald Tribune, 28 February, 2004). On the way Georgia is perceived in the European context,see: B. Coppieters, “Georgia in Europe: The Idea of Periphery in International Relations,” in: Commonwealth and Independ-ence in Post-Soviet Eurasia, ed. by B. Coppieters, A. Zverev, D. Trenin, Frank Cass, 1998.
For more on the nationalist trends in historical studies and the factor of developing historical imagination in the context of unfolding nationalism, see: G. Kasianov, “‘Nationalized’ History: Past Continuous, Present Perfect, Future…,”in: A Laboratory of Transnational History: Ukraine and Recent Ukrainian Historiography, ed. by G. Kasianov, Ph. Ther,Budapest, New York, 2009, pp. 7-24; M. von Hagen, “Revisiting the Histories of Ukraine,” in: A Laboratory of Transna-tional History: Ukraine and Recent Ukrainian Historiography, pp. 25-50; A. Kappeler, “From an Ethnonational to a Mul-tiethnic to a Transnational Ukrainian History,” in: A Laboratory of Transnational History: Ukraine and Recent Ukrainian Historiography, pp. 51-80; Ph. Ther, “The Transnational Paradigm of Historiography and its Potential for Ukrainian His-tory,” in: A Laboratory of Transnational History: Ukraine and Recent Ukrainian Historiography, pp. 81-115.
N. Kipshidze, “War between Georgia and Russia, and the Trail of Russian Boots,” Archival Bulletin, No. 3, 2008,pp. 17-23; K. Rostiashvili, “To the Respected Sons of Abkhazia,” Archival Bulletin, No. 3, 2008, pp. 11-16; K. Sarsevanidze,
May Almighty Help Us Take Back Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region!” Archival Bulletin, No. 3, 2008, pp. 26-37.
A. Jokhadze, op. cit.
A.D. Smith, Nationalism: Theory, Ideology, History (Key Concepts), Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2003 p. 24.
For more detail, see: “Catholicos-Patriarch to Bless Saakashvili as President of Georgia,” InterPress, 24 Jan-uary, 2004. On the political component of the civil rituals in the context of developing nationalism, see: A. Krivolap,
Kosntruiruia novoe prostranstvo. Belorusskiy opyt vizualizatsii Dnia Nezavisimosti,” Palitychnaia sfera, No. 8, 2007,pp. 81-93.
It seems that the role of religious trends in the current Georgian nationalist discourse should not be overestimat-ed. Nationalism is largely an anti-traditional ideology. The historical process of modernization of the peripheries was con-nected with their secularization. On the other hand, religious trends played their role in the slower pace and slower mod-ernization in Central and Eastern Europe, which was trailing behind the West. The correlation between religion and nation-alism has been studied in more or less greater detail (see: . Boneta, “Politièki identiteti periferija,” RzS, Vol. 34, No. 3-4,2004, pp. 143-158; D. Marinoviæ Jerolimov, Tradicionalna religioznost u Hrvatskoj 2004: izmeðu kolektivnog i individ-ualno, SSe, Vol. 43, No. 2, 2005, pp. 303-338; D. Marinoviæ Jerolimov, S. Zrinèak, Religion Within and Beyond Bor-ders: The Case of Croatia, SoC, Vol. 53, No. 2, 2006, pp. 279-290).
“Georgian President Optimistic about Future in Inauguration Speech,” BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union,25 January, 2004.
For more on the state symbols in the context of nationalism, see: B. Zhikik2, “Amblemot na trite prsta: kako srbite go construiraa vuzuelniot imits na nivniot natsionalen identitet vo devedesettite godini od dvaecettiot vek,” EAS, No. 4, 2004,pp. 10-25 (in Serbo-Croatian); I. Lialkou, “Pytanne dziarzhaunay symboliki u Belarusi: gistoria i suchasny stan,” available at [http://arche.bymedia.net/2002-1/lalk102.html].
For more on the religious factor in the mainly secularized European societies and nationalisms, see: D. Sekuliæ,
. porer, Religioznost kao prediktor vrijednosnih orijentacija, RzS, Vol. 37, No. 1-2, 2006. S. 1-19; Z. ram, Religioznost i drutvena svijest: analiza odnosa na uzorku graðana Subotice, CuS, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2001, pp. 389-419; idem, Dimenz-ije etnocentrizma i nacionalna pripadnost, DI, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2002, pp. 1-22.
For more about this event and its intellectual prerequisites, see: Z. Andronikashvili, “Slava bessilia. Martirolog-icheskaia paradigma gruzinskoy politicheskoy teologii,” Ab Imperio, No. 4, 2007, pp. 87-120.
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