CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2008
| Author | Matsaberidze, David |
|---|---|
| Title | Conflict in Tskhinvali Region: Interaction of Georgian-South Ossetian Nationalisms |
| Summary | The thesis looks at the causes and controversies of the post-Soviet conflict developments using the example of the severe confrontation in the Tskinvali Region, Georgia, through the prism of interaction of internal (in the center and periphery) and external elites, with divergent rationally calculated political and economic aspirations. The paper aims to downplay both, the viability of the use of the term ethnic conflict as the right way to describe the Georgian-South Ossetian confrontation and the appropriateness of the duality Georgian-South Ossetian conflict in general, offering the idea of using the term Tskinvali Region as the best option to denote conflict, hence avoiding the use of historically and ethnically charged concepts. Theoretically the thesis contextualizes the particular case study through elite manipulation theory of ethnic conflicts, seeing agencies and organizations of ethnic elites, rather than ethnic masses, as instigators of conflicting inter-ethnic relations, drawing a clear distinction between the roles of the two. Methodologically the paper compares the political and economic interests of internal and external agencies, starting from the pre-conflicting period, when the conflict was successfully grounded, down to very recent developments, so as to catch the line of change and shift in the role of each actor, hence the way their interaction transformed. The research therefore sets the major political and economic calculations serving as the basis for the conflicting developments of inter-ethnic relations, through making a bridge between the two circles of actors, internal and external, found in the conflict, and offering a wider framework of elites’ interests and interactions. |
| Supervisor | Alexei Miller |
| Department | Nationalism Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2008/matsaberidze_david.pdf |
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