Transnational coalition building: The case of volunteers in the conflict in Abkhazia

Abstract

ABSTRACT The 1992–93 war in Abkhazia was one of several ethno-nationalist conflicts which blighted the Caucasus, following the demise of the Soviet Union. The conflict involved the large-scale mobilization of volunteers, from southern Russia and from further afield, who allied with Abkhaz secessionists in the build-up to, and during, the war. This paper examines the coalition-building process between Abkhaz secessionists and other ethno-nationalist movements throughout the conflict. This article’s central questions examine how the coalitions between Abkhaz and non-indigenous movements formed and how the process of coalition-building impacted on the longevity of such alliances. Drawing on the concept of transnational activism, it analyses the role of ethnic relatedness, political opportunity and common threat as contributing factors which influenced mobilization and the alliance-building process. The paper assesses the durability of the transnational coalitions in three different phases of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. The study illustrates that the most durable alliances formed with Abkhaz’s closest ethnic relatives Abkhaz-Abaza movements, Ossetian nationalists and the broader “Russian world.” It demonstrates that the Abkhaz connection with Chechen and Circassian movements was event-based and temporary.