GEORGE SOROS IN THE SOUTHERN CAUCASUS
Abstract
Recently, so much attention has been focused on George Soros, a prominent international financier
and philanthropist with the number of articles written about him—both enthusiastic and critical,
sincere and openly biased growing by geometric progression, that it would be quite appropriate
to clarify some of the central concepts of his philosophy in general and his activities in the Southern Cau
casus in particular. Interest in this personality particularly increased in connection with the war on Iraq,
as well as with the latest presidential elections in Georgia and the United States. Soros the philanthropist
is becoming increasingly involved in political life, openly showing his sympathies and antipathies, his
likes and dislikes, which of course cannot but evoke a response from both the mass media and the political elite in different countries, which does not take criticism too well.
The present article does not aim to analyze Soros’ political activities or to rebuff his critics, which,
in the opinion of the present author, he does not need. As a board member of one of the national Soros
foundations in the Southern Caucasus, I would like to reflect on the basic principles of Open Society and
their importance for regional development, and also to assess the extent to which George Soros’ ideas are
implemented by these national foundations.
George Soros took an active interest in the concept of Open Society in the 1940s, when he was at the
London School of Economics. He survived the Nazi occupation of Budapest and left communist Hungary
in 1947 for England, where he graduated from the LSE. While a student at LSE, Soros became familiar
with the work of philosopher Karl Popper, who had a profound influence on his thinking and later on his
professional and philanthropic activities. Soros saw Popper as his philosophical guru. Karl Popper was a committed follower of French philosopher Henri Bergson, a founder and most significant exponent of
logical positivism. In his works, Bergson posited the reality, not the illusion, of freedom, as embodied,
above all, in constructive diversity and based on the rule of law.
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References
See: K. Popper, Otkrytoye obshchestvo i ego vragi (Open Society and Its Enemies), Vol. 1, Moscow, 1992, p. 7.
See: G. Soros, The Bubble of American Supremacy, Public Affairs, New York, 2004, p. 2.
See: Ph. De Lara, “Des pouvoirs locaux relevent-ils de l’Etat ou de la société civile,” Novelle alternative (Ðaris), No. 27,
, p. 10.
See: A. Gramsci, Tyuremnye tetradi, Moscow, 1971; G.A. Antonos, “Vozniknovenie grazhdanskogo obshchestva v
Tsentral’noy Evrope i na Balkanakh,” Gosudarstvo i pravo, Series 4, No. 2, 1993, pp. 11-15.
See: Th. Carothers, Civil Society. Think Again, Carnegie Endowment, New York, 2004, p. 2.
The Zviad Gamsakhurdia government was in power in Georgia in 1989-1990; the People’s Front in Azerbaijan: 1992
; the Armenian Pannational Movement: 1991-1998.
See: “Building Open Society.” Soros Foundations Network. 2003 Report, New York, 2004, p. 30.
See: F. Asadov, “Otkrytoe obshchestvo v Azerbaijane,” Zerkalo, 7 August, 2004.
See the Foundation’s annual report at [www.osi-az.org].
See: Soros Foundations Network. 2003 Report, p. 29.
Ibid., p. 31.
[www.osi-az.org]
See: Soros Foundations Network. 2003 Report, pp. 28-29.
See: Otchet Koordinatsionnogo soveshchatel’nogo soveta (KSS) po provedeniyu monitoringa prezidentskikh vyborov
v Azerbaijane, Baku, 2003; Otchet Bakinskogo press-kluba o monitoringe SMI v khode prezidentskikh vyborov v Azerbaijane,
Baku, 2003.
See: Soros Foundations Network. 2003 Report, pp. 30-31.
[www.gsft.ge].
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