7 Georgia’s Two Others: Nationalism and the Identity Struggle of a Post-Soviet Nation State

Abstract

Georgia is one of the countries where identity crises and nationalism have led to significant problems and caused political, social, and territorial disintegration during the first years of independence in the 1990s. Later the situation changed: along with Western aspirations, the Georgian national project gradually acquired civil features. The present contribution analyzes the symbolic and real roles of the West in the formation of post-Soviet Georgian public discourse(s) and the importance of attitudes to the West in the development of diverse forms of national identity. At the end of the 1980s, the country’s independence became the foremost goal of the national movement that started in the Soviet Republic of Georgia. After achieving this goal and the establishment of independence, at the beginning of the 1990s, the development of an independent democratic state became the most significant challenge for Georgian society. In the process of deconstructing the Soviet system, Georgians started to construct a new identity and searched for their own place within the international system. Since this period, the idea of the European origin of Georgians and their close links to the West has become widespread in the public and academic circles. The idea of “belonging to Europe” still plays a key role in the process of formation of the Georgian identity. However, the attitude to the West is not positive in all cases. Although Euro-Atlantic integration on the political level is the key message of the Georgian national project, a certain portion of Georgian society is filled with fear and mistrust of the West. Diverse social groups demonize the West, although, unlike in the Soviet era, in this case the “Western Demon” does not threaten the “Soviet motherland.” Instead, it threatens a traditional orthodox country with an ancient history. This contribution aims to study two different,