Development of Political Self-Awareness in Georgia

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Development of Political Self-Awareness in Georgia
// Russia and New States of Eurasia. 2024. no. III (LXIV). P. 109-121

DOI: 10.20542/2073-4786-2024-3-109-121

Archil T. Sikharulidze, Master of International Relations, founder of the SIKHA Foundation Research Institute (Tbilisi, Georgia).

Received 07.10.2024. Revised 16.10.2024. Accepted 21.10.2024.

Abstract. Determination of Georgia to find its own place in the post-Soviet world order pushed local elites to form an idea that the Western future is the guarantee of the strategic security, territorial integrity and economic prosperity; simply, the best existed strategically and tactically pragmatic approach to the foreign policy of the state in the unilateral global system. Integration with the NATO and EU, initially perceived as tools, turned into a new nation-wide ideology “radical Europeanness” when the integration itself became a grand goal, some kind of civilizational inevitability and the sole possible “righteous” development model. But collapse of the unilateralism in combination with geopolitical and economic shifts only strengthened state institutions and pushed local society to further develop that step-by-step rose demand for more balanced, partially pragmatic and self-focused approach to the foreign and domestic policies of the state – the “Georgianness”. The concept does not mean geopolitical shift from the West to Russia or any other actors but rather formation of a new independent political self-awareness, based on fundamental Georgian values (traditions) and requirements. There is still strong necessity for unity with the NATO and EU but the integration process itself has been changed. There is a clear understanding that the West holds no more monopoly on economic prosperity, military security and a title of the culturally “civilized” world.

Keywords: Georgia, Europeanness, radical Europeanness, Georgianness, politics


For citation:
Sikharulidze A. Development of Political Self-Awareness in Georgia. Russia and New States of Eurasia, 2024, no. III (LXIV), pp. 109-121. https://doi.org/10.20542/2073-4786-2024-3-109-121



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2024, No. III (LXIV)
  • - UKRAINE TODAY
  • - BELARUS: GEOPOLITICAL FUTURE
  • - MOLDOVA AND TRANSNISTRIA
  • - CAUCASIAN CHRONICLES
  • - CONFLICTS AND SECURITY PROBLEMS
  • - ACTUAL GEOPOLITICS
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