Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State Universit: Open Journal Systems / ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი
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No full textDedicated to the 100th Anniversary of the Constituent Assembly (Parliament) of the Democratic Republic of Georgi
Civil control mechanism in the Free Trade Agreements
No full textIt has been more than a decade since the European Union (EU) set standards for the international labor rights in its Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). The mentioned standards allow involvement of civil society groups via institutional channel. In particular it entails, implementation of sustainable development and trade part of the FTA through introduction and implementation of labor rights and environmental/climate protection involving Jointly established Domestic Advisory Groups (DAG).Civil society representatives, represented at DAGs are assisting the EU and its Partners / Contracting Parties in fulfilling Trade and Sustainable Development mandate. The DAGs also include stakeholders who ensure sustainable development in terms of environmental / climate / labor protection.The Joint Statements issued by the DAGs of Georgia and the EU during 2016-2019, define the level of involvement of Non-governmental organizations as well as priority issues. At the same time, this is also possible to define their role at different stages of adopting the relevant legislation as well as implementation of the policy.The article reviewed impact of Georgian civil society, namely DAGs in the implementation and management of trade and sustainable development chapter by the Georgian state as stipulated in the Association Agreement. In various countries, studies regarding civil control mechanisms in FTAs are usual practice, although in terms of Georgian context this is a novelty.On balance, since 2014 Georgia has institutionalized public control that focuses on civic control in the implementation of trade and sustainable development issues. Content analysis conducted within the study found that the role of the civil society sector is consistently emphasized and the appropriateness of their involvement is requested and considered by the parties and relevant procedural issues are present
Elaborating the Parliamentary Code of Ethnic: The Experience of the Constituent Assembly of Georgia (1919-1921)
No full textThe article deals with the issues of ethics on the bases of stenographic accounts, codes of laws and press materials of the 1919-1921. Although at that time there was no ethnical code of electoral or parliamentary conducts, but the electoral law and normatives of the Constituent Assembly regulated various ethical aspects of political behavior
Mikhako Tsereteli and the conceptualization of Nation in Georgia in the Early 20th Century (“Nation and Mankind”)
No full textThe concept of nation by Mikhako Tsereteli is important for several reasons: 1) Anarchists represented extreme left-wing of Georgian society and political sphere. Certain anarchistic ideas as a form of socialist doctrines have begun to exist in Georgia since the 1860s. Mikhako Tsereteli belonged to the group of anarchists, who always considered the concept of nation as prime and prioritized in spite of ideological views. Mikhako Tsereteli was a clear and rare example of how a Georgian thinker preferred to deal with a national problem existing in Georgia rather than his political ideology; 2) Mikhako Tsereteli’s opinion about the concept of nation is extremely important, because he is the author of the first sociological research in Georgia – “Nation and Mankind” (1910), in which the author tries to analyze the categories of nation and mankind and it finally leads us to the fact, that Mikhako Tsereteli denies the phenomenon of man and admits original nature of the phenomenon of nation; 3) It is worth noting, that Mikhako Tsereteli was greatly influenced by his contemporary European thinkers, especially sociologists. While formulating the concept of nation, he scrutinizes the theories of nation existing in Europe and forms his own concept of nation on account of criticizing or partially agreeing with the different thinkers’ viewpoints such as Salomon Reinach, Ernest Nys, Pasquale Stanislao Mancini, Johann Kaspar Bluntschli, Ernest Renan, de Greef, René Worms, Tard, Otto Bauer, Rudolf Springer. There is no doubt, that Mikhako Tsereteli studied the European theories of nation and created “Nation and Mankind” based on them, which doubles the interest towards the author
On the National Question
No full textThe national issue was one among many interests of Simon Khundadze (1897-1933). One of his articles, discussing various theories of nations, was the first chapter of his planned monograph, dedicated to the issue of nationality question. The article is interesting as long as it provides the review of various attempts of definition of the concept of nation and highlights the history of related theories
Discussion of the Issue of Taking Credit from the Foreign Trade Bank of Britain in the Constituent Assembly of Georgia
No full textThe article deals with the newly uncovered materials regarding the allocation of 1.5 million pound-sterlling for the government of Democratic Republic of Georgia by the Foreign Trade Bank of the Great Britain and with the related discussion taking place at the Constituent Assembly of Georgia
The Image of the West in Georgia after Independence (Main Tendencies)
No full textGeorgia is among the countries to which identity crisis and exclusive nationalism posed serious problems at the dawn of independence and determined political and social disintegration. The situation changed in the subsequent period and, in parallel to strengthening pro-European political aspirations, Georgian national project gradually acquired civil characteristics. The paper analyses the post-Soviet experience of the country in terms of the West’s symbolic as well as real role in the Georgian public discourse.
Since the late 1980s independence became the ultimate purpose for the national movement which emerged in the Soviet republic of Georgia. After achieving the goal and gaining sovereignty in the early 1990s, building of an independent democratic state represented a crucial challenge for the Georgian society. In the process of deconstruction of the Soviet system Georgians started looking for new identity construction and a place within the international system. From that time the idea of Georgia’s European origin and tight relations with the West has broken into the Georgian public and academic discourse. The “Europeanness” still plays one of the key roles in Georgian identity discourse, but attitudes towards Europe are not unequivocally positive. Following the process of Euro Atlantic integration on the political level, featured as the major message of the Georgian national project, fear and mistrust of Europe (and of the West in General) eventually conquered part of the Georgian society.
The paper tries to explore the two separated as well as closely interrelated tendencies in Georgia for a short period of the post-Socialist independence. The study of identity and national discourses are a new trend in Georgian humanities and social sciences. Many issues in this respect are still to be analyzed with the use of recent theories and new methodological approaches. There are only a few works that review the subject of my research from the above perspective. Despite having rich and diverse empirical material, most of it is not systematized within certain theoretical approaches. This reality itself determines the importance of the issue of the research
Sanctification of Religious Elements in the Process of Identity Convergence (Regional Analysis according to Adjarian Example)
Get PDFHistorically, religion was a determinant of ethnicity. Consequently, religion played an important role in shaping the identity. At the modern stage, the clear strengthening of secularization contributed to freedom of religion. However, following the historical processes religious things in social life have contributed to the elements of sanctification, which has established exceptional approaches in social culture, consciousness and identity processes. Taking into consideration these tendencies, Adjarian region is characterized by special significance based on historical processes and modern trends. Due to the historical past, Adjara is distinguished with religious diversity that has influenced the population’s traditional culture, as well as the consciousness and identity formation. Cultural and social grounds for establishment of Christian religion in Adjara were prepared by pagan religion, the elements of which in modern stage are well maintained in the population and culture. This was due to the spread of Islam as pagan culture was more acceptable than Christian elements. Consequently, the conservation of pagan elements in the society occurred. The spread of Muslim religion was used as a factor of ethno-cultural de-integration. More importantly, that historically religion was the main criterion of ethnicity. In the modern stage, secularization processes have replaced existing approaches and generally religion is no longer a factor of ethnic identity. However, we can say that we have received syncretism of three religions (paganism, Islam, Christianity), which has had a significant impact on the development of cultural identity.
26 მაისი მეხსიერების პოლიტიკის კონტექსტში (1921-1922)
Get PDFThe 26th of May in the Context of the Memory Politics (1921-1922)The Soviet regime, imposed on Georgia in February-March, 1921, after its occupation by the Russian Red Army, claimed that it would defend the sovereignty of Georgia, thus it was forced to celebrate the 26 of May in 1921; although the new government tried to attach the “Soviet Content” to it through claiming that after the Sovietization the true freedom was gained by the workers of Georgia. Although, this was a dangerous move, as the May 26 represented the symbol of the independent statehood of Georgia; thus, it was immediately abandoned by the communist regime. From 1922, the Soviet Rule prohibited the celebration of the May 26 and it was substituted by the February 25 – the day of entrance of the Russian Red Army in Tbilisi, which was declared as the day of the “Soviet Georgia.
Identity Markers in the Georgian Narrative Sources of the Middle Ages (Historico-Anthropological Analysis)
No full textThe paper deals with the issue of revealing the identity defining markers in the Georgian narrative sources of the Middle Ages (“The Life of Georgians”). It also highlights the main characteristics considered to be important according to the Georgian historical material from the point of view of determining “We-Group” and identifying the distinction of one ethnicity from the others.
Identity markers, which (according to the Georgian medieval narrative sources) are considered to be significant for defining the ethnicity of Georgians, are viewed in the intersection of three main paradigms of ethnicity:
Attributive (as the quality of a group) – ethnicity is viewed in the aspect of demonstration of the cultural qualities creating the basis for the formation of unity (language, ethnonym, historic memory, peculiarities of tangible culture, rituals, behavioral patterns, etc.);
Subjective-symbolic (ethnicity as an ethnic identity) – ethnicity is viewed by an individual in the aspect of the sense of belonging to a certain (reference) group;
Interactive (ethnicity as intergroup relations) – views ethnicity at the level of dichotomic scheme “we” – “they”, i.e. ethnicity is a group characteristic demonstrated by comparing “ours” with “non-ours”.
A preliminary hypothesis concerning the issue can be developed this way:
Identity markers, which according to the Georgian medieval narrative sources are considered to be significant for defining the ethnicity of Georgians, should primarily represent an intersection of attributive and subjective/symbolic paradigms of ethnicity; however, the advantage of one of the paradigms may be outlined and/or it may appear that the idea of medieval Georgians concerning ethnic belonging practically corresponds to all the three paradigms of demonstration of ethnicity and is marked by the tendency of variability of dominant paradigms considering the epoch and the political situation.
"The Life of Georgians" offers the whole concept regarding nationality/ethnicity. Acording to this concept, the ethno-cultural image of a Georgian individual comprises the following components: common origin, common language and territory (borders), confession (religion) and common historic past (historic memory).
According to "The Life of Georgians", common origin implies origination first from Targamos, and afterwards from Kartlos. All the descendants of Kartlos are Georgians. Therefore, national identity is based on common origin, i.e. blood relations. At the same time, the name "Georgian" accentuated the place of origin. It has a much wider context than just a unity of one family.
One of the main preconditions for the nation’s/people’s existence is a unified territory and therefore, the work attaches great importance to showing the borders of settlement of Georgians.
Georgians also differ from "others" by the Georgian language. According to "The Life of Georgians", language in general, and specifically the Georgian language, undergoes several steps of development: the first step is its origin, the second – its universal spread within the state borders, the third and the highest step is its transformation into the language of education.
The necessary precondition for the existence of Georgians, as well as any people in general, is the unity of religion, i.e. confession. According to the work, religion – confession of ancestors is one of the most significant attributes of the nation and state and the guarantee of its sustainability.
One more component of the identification of ethnicity is the chronicler’s discussion about the significance of the common past, i.e. historic memory. In this regard, "The Life of Georgians" mainly focuses on the fights, agreements, political achievements and compromises related to acquiring/gaining separate territories. The mentioned phenomena are considered to be the common past. According to the chronicler, all these factors unite the Georgians and make the sense of the past as well as the sense of their relationship and unity more tangible.
The analysis of the markers related to the ethnic identity of Georgians observed in "The Life of Georgians" practically fully confirms the hypothesis presented by us about a possible correspondence of the mentioned markers with all the three paradigms of identification of ethnicity. The mentioned analysis demonstrates the scientifically justified opinion of the author of this most significant historical source of the medieval period. Considering all the necessary preconditions, the mentioned opinion is politically determined and focused on the perspective of preservation/development of a unified/centralized state. For the population residing on a certain territory, but not necessarily related ethnically, these preconditions should create the basis for firm loyalty to the unity, belonging to the “We-Group”as well as culture, traditions and values of this group