Hostname: page-component-669899f699-7xsfk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-04T12:18:17.194Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An undisclosed story of roses: church, state, and nation in contemporary Georgia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Tornike Metreveli
Tornike Metreveli*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
*
∗Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Since the Rose Revolution (2003), Georgia has encountered an unprecedented scale of institutional reforms concomitant with the rise of American and European involvement in the “democratization” process. Various scholars have suggested that Georgian nationalism developed from an ethno-cultural basis to a more civic/liberal orientation after the Rose Revolution. This paper analyzes Georgian nationalism under President Mikheil Saakashvili to demonstrate the significant divergence between political rhetoric on national identity, the selection of symbols, and state policy toward the Georgian Orthodox Church versus state policy toward ethnic minorities. The aim of this article is to examine the at times conflicting conceptions of national identity as reflected in the public policies of Saakashvili's government since the Rose Revolution. It attempts to problematize the typologies of nationalism when applied to the Georgian context and suggests conceptualizing the state-driven nationalism of the post-Rose Revolution government as “hybrid nationalism” as opposed to civic or ethno-cultural.

Keywords

GeorgianationalismOrthodox ChurchRose Revolutionnational identity
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 44 , Issue 5 , September 2016 , pp. 694 - 712
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections On the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Apple, Micheal. 1996. “Power, Meaning and Identity: Critical Sociology of Education in the United States.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 17 (2): 125–144.Google Scholar
Asmus, Roland. 2010. A Little War that Shook the World: Georgia, Russia, and the Future of the West. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Association Agreement between the European Union and Georgia. 2014. http://eeas.europa.eu/georgia/pdf/eu-ge_aa-dcfta_en.pdf.Google Scholar
BBC. 2007. “Tear Gas used on Georgia Protest.” November 7. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7082317.stm.Google Scholar
Broers, Laurence. 2008. “Filling the Void: Ethnic Politics and Nationalities Policy In Post-conflict Georgia.” Nationalities Papers 36 (2): 275–304.Google Scholar
Brown, David. 2000. Contemporary Nationalism: Civic, Ethnocultural and Multicultural. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers. 1992. Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Chikvaidze, Davit. 2005. “Sak'art'velos saxelmcip'osa da Sak'art'velos samoc'ik'ulo avtokep'alur mart'lmadidebel eklesias šoris Konstituc'iuri šet'anxmebis komenatariebi [Commentaries on the Constitutional Concordat between the Government of Georgia and Georgia's Apostolic Autocephalic Orthodox Church].” Tbilisi, Georgia.Google Scholar
Chivers, C. J. 2007. “Thousands Rally in Capital Against Georgia President.” New York Times, November 3. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/03/world/europe/03tbilisi.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.Google Scholar
Georgia, Civil. 2008. “Donors Pledge USD 4.55 bln.” October 22. http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=19810.Google Scholar
Companjen, Francoise. 2010. “Georgia.” In The Colour Revolutions in the Former Soviet Republics: Successes and Failures, edited by Ó Beacháin, Donnacha and Polese, Abel, 13–29. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Research Service, Congressional. 2008. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia: Political Developments and Implications for US Interests. Washington, DC: Library of Congress.Google Scholar
Cornell, Svante, and Starr, Frederick. 2009. The Guns of August 2008 Russia's War in Georgia. M. E. Sharpe: New York.Google Scholar
Deutsch, Karl. 1966. Nationalism and Social Communication. An Inquiry into the Foundations of Nationality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
ENP (European Neighborhood Policy) Report. 2010. “Georgia's Progress Report on Implementation of the ENP Action Plan.” Office of the State Minister of Georgia on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration. http://eu-integration.gov.ge/uploads/ENPREPORT2010FINAL04_03_2011.doc.Google Scholar
EU-Georgia Action Plan. 2004. http://eeas.europa.eu/enp/pdf/pdf/action_plans/georgia_enp_ap_final_en.pdf.Google Scholar
Eurasianet. 2004. “The Flag of Change: Georgia's New Banner.” March 25. http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/culture/articles/eav032604.shtml.Google Scholar
Fairbanks, Charles Jr. 2004. “Georgia's Rose Revolution.” Journal of Democracy 15 (2): 110–124.Google Scholar
Filetti, Andrea. 2013. “Religion in South Caucasus: Encouraging or Inhibiting Pro-Democratic Attitudes?” Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe 6 (1): 33–45.Google Scholar
Furseth, linger, and Repstad, Pål. 2006. An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Gale, Trevor. 2001. “Critical Policy Sociology: Historiography, Archaeology and Genealogy as Methods of Policy Analysis.” Journal of Education Policy 16 (5): 379–393.Google Scholar
Gavashelshvil, Elene. 2012. “Anti-Modern and Anti-Globalist Tendencies in the Georgian Orthodox Church.” Identity Studies 1 (4): 118–137.Google Scholar
Gellner, Ernest. 1964. Thought and Change. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.Google Scholar
Gellner, Ernest. 1983. Nations and Nationalism. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ghvinianidze, Lina, and Barkaia, Maia. 2014. “Religion in public schools: An analysis of educational policy from the perspective of religious freedom.” Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC), Tbilisi, Georgia.Google Scholar
Giragosian, Richard. 2004. “The US Military Engagement in Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus: An Overview.” The Journal of Slavic Military Studies 17 (1): 43–77.Google Scholar
Glock, Charles, Ringer, Benjamin, and Babbie, Earl. 1967. To Comfort and to Challenge. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Glock, Charles, and Stark, Rodney. 1965. Religion and Society in Tension. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Grdzelidze, Tamara. 2009. “The Orthodox Church of Georgia: Challenges Under Democracy and Freedom (1990-2009).” International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 10 (2-3): 160–175.Google Scholar
Greenfeld, Liah. 1992. Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Henry, Miriam. 1993. “What is Policy? A Response to Stephen Ball.” Discourse, 14 (1): 102–105.Google Scholar
International Crisis Group Report. 2011. “Georgia: The Javakheti Region's Integration Challenges.” May 23. Europe Briefing N° 63. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4ddbal712.html.Google Scholar
International Religious Freedom Report. 2005. “Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.” http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2005/51553.htm.Google Scholar
Jakopovich, Daniel. 2007. “The 2003 ‘Rose Revolution’ in Georgia: A Case Study in High Politics and Rank-and-file Execution.” Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe 15 (2): 211–220.Google Scholar
Jones, Stephen F. 2006. “The Rose Revolution: A Revolution without Revolutionaries?” Cambridge Review of International Affairs 19 (1): 33–48.Google Scholar
Jones, Stephen F. 2013. Georgia: A Political History Since Independence. London: I. B. Tauris & Company.Google Scholar
Kekelia, Tatia. 2012. “Modernization and Secularization—Georgian Case Study.” Identity Studies 1 (4): 90–106.Google Scholar
King, Charles. 2004. “A Rose among Thorns: Georgia Makes Good.” Foreign Affairs 83 (2): 13–18.Google Scholar
Kohn, Hans. 1944. The Idea of Nationalism. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, Will. 1995. Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, Will, and Opalski, Magda. 2001. Can Liberal Pluralism be Exported? Western Political Theory and Ethnic Relations in Eastern Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ladaria, Konstantin. 2012. “Georgian Orthodox Church and Political Project of Modernization.” Identity Studies 1 (4): 107–117.Google Scholar
Law on General Education [kanoni zogadi ganatlebis shesakheb]. 2005. http://www.mes.gov.ge/uploads/Licenzireba/kanoni%20zogadi%20ganatlebis%20shesaxeb.pdf.Google Scholar
Lazarus, Joel. 2010. “Neo-liberal State Building and Western ‘Democracy Promotion': The Case of Georgia.” In SGIR 7th Pan-European Conference, Stockholm, Sweden.Google Scholar
Marshall, Catherine. 1997. “Dismantling and Reconstructing Policy Analysis.” In Feminist Critical Policy Analysis I: A Perspective from Primary and Secondary Schooling, edited by Marshall, C., 1–39. London: Falmer Press.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Lincoln. 2004. “Georgia's Rose Revolution.” Current History 103 (675): 342–348.Google Scholar
Nodia, Ghia. 2009. “Components of the Georgian National Identity: An Outline.” Identity Studies 1 (1): 84–101.Google Scholar
Ozga, Jenny. 1987. “Studying Educational Policy through the Lives of Policy Makers: An Attempt to Close the Macromicro Gap.” In Changing Policies, Changing Teachers, edited by Walker, Stephen and Barton, Len, 138–150. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Payne, Daniel P. 2007. “Nationalism and the Local Church: The Source of Ecclesiastical Conflict in the Orthodox Commonwealth.” Nationalities Papers 35 (5): 831–852.Google Scholar
Prunty, John. 1985. “Signposts for a Critical Educational Policy Analysis.” Australian Journal of Education 29 (2): 133–140.Google Scholar
Ramet, Sabrina P. 2006. “The Way We Were – and Should be Again? European Orthodox Churches and the ‘Idyllic Past'.” In Religion in an Expanding Europe, edited by Byrnes, Timothy A. and Katzenstein, Peter, 148–175. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ratiani, Sergo. 2011. “Differing Political Theologies of Differing Eras.” Identity Studies 1 (3): 51–75.Google Scholar
Report of Civil Development Agency (CIDA). 2011. “To the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination for the 79th Session.” August 8-September 2. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/CiDA_Georgia79.pdf.Google Scholar
Rice, Tom W. 2003. “Believe it or Not: Religious and Other Paranormal Beliefs in the United States.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 42 (1): 95–106.Google Scholar
Roof, Wade C. 1976. “Traditional Religion in Contemporary Society: A Theory of Local-Cosmopolitan Plausibility.” American Sociological Review 41 (2): 195–208.Google Scholar
Saakashvili, Mikheil. 2004. Mikheil Saakashvili Sworn In. http://www.president.gov.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=219&info_id=4990.Google Scholar
Saakashvili, Mikheil. 2005. President Saakashvili Meets with Law-Enforcements at the Constitutional Security Department. http://www.president.gov.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=228&info_id=4835.Google Scholar
Saakashvili, Mikheil. 2008a. The President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili's Address to the Population of Georgia. http://www.president.gov.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=228&info_id=4188.Google Scholar
Saakashvili, Mikheil. 2008b. The President of Georgia Addressed Abkhazian and Ossetian Population with Peace Initiative. http://www.president.gov.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=228&info_id=4210.Google Scholar
Saakashvili, Mikheil. 2008c. The President of Georgia Met Refugees and the Veterans of the War of the 90ies. http://www.president.gov.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=228&info_id=4222.Google Scholar
Sak'art'velos sagadasakhado kodeqsi [Georgian Tax Code]. 2010. http://www.forms.ge/kodex.Google Scholar
Serrano, Silvia. 2010. “De-Secularizing National Space in Georgia.” Identity Studies 1 (2): 37–58.Google Scholar
Serrano, Silvia. 2014. “The Georgian Church Embodiment of National Unity or Opposition Force?” Russian Politics and Law, 52 (4): 74–92.Google Scholar
Shubitidze, Irine. 2011. “Language Policy and Difficulties in the State Language Teaching Process in Georgia.” Centre for Civil Integration and Inter-Ethnic Relations: Tbilisi, Georgia.Google Scholar
Smith, Anthony D. 1991. National Identity. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Smith, Anthony D. 2009. Ethno-Symbolism and Nationalism. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sordia, Giorgi. 2009. “Institutions of Georgia for Governance on National Minorities: An Overview.” European Centre for Minority Issues, Working paper # 43. http://www.ecmi.de/publications/detail/43-institutions-of-georgia-for-governance-on-national-minorities-an-overview-153/.Google Scholar
Stark, Rodney, and Bainbridge, William S. 1980. “Towards a Theory of Religion: Religious Commitment.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 19 (2): 114–128.Google Scholar
Sulkhanishvili, Irina. 2012. “Struggle for Power: Religion and Politics in Georgia from the 90s to the Present.” Identity Studies 1 (4): 138–152.Google Scholar
Taylor, Sandra. 1997. “Critical Policy Analysis: Exploring Contexts, Texts and Consequences.” Discourse 18 (1): 23–35.Google Scholar
Gigi, Tevzadze. 2009. “The Birth of the Georgian Nation. Identity and Ideology. Political and Societal Identities. Nationality and Religiosity.” Identity Studies 1 (1): 5–21.Google Scholar
Tevzadze, Gigi. 2010. “Secularization and the Birth of a Nation.” Identity Studies 1 (1): 59–78.Google Scholar
Tomka, Miklós. 2011. Expanding Religion. Religious Revival in Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe. New York: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Transparency International. 2013. “An Overview of Public Financing Provided to the Georgian Patriarchate.” http://transparency.ge/en/blog/overview-public-financing-provided-georgianpatriarchate.Google Scholar
Tudoroiu, Theodor. 2007. “Rose, Orange, and Tulip: The Failed Post-Soviet Revolutions.” Communist and Post-Communist Studies 40 (3): 315–342.Google Scholar
United Nations Association of Georgia. 2006. National Integration and Tolerance in Georgia: Assessment Survey Report. United Nations Association of Georgia, http://www.diversity.ge/files/files/ASR/NITG_Assesment_survey_report_Report.pdf.Google Scholar
Wheatley, Jonathan. 2005. Georgia from National Awakening to Rose Revolution Delayed Transition in the Former Soviet Union. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Wheatley, Jonathan. 2006. “The Status of Minority Languages in Georgia and the Relevance of Models from Other European States.” European Centre for Minority Issues, Working paper # 26. http://www.ecmi.de/publications/detail/26-the-status-of-minority-languages-in-georgia-and-the-relevance-of-models-from-other-european-states-170/.Google Scholar
Wheatley, Jonathan. 2009. “Georgia and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.” European Centre for Minority Issues, Working paper # 42. http://www.ecmi.de/publications/detail/42-georgia-and-the-european-charter-for-regional-or-minority-languages-154/.Google Scholar
Yack, Bernard. 1999. “The Myth of Civic Nation.” In Theorizing Nationalism, edited by Beiner, Ronald, 103–118. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Zedania, Giga. 2009. “National Form and the Question of Identity.” Identity Studies 1 (1): 75–83.Google Scholar
Zuckerman, Phil. 2008. Society Without God. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar