Research Institute Gnomon Wise
Masters, Researchers
Tbilisi/Georgia
t.ketsbaia@ug.edu.ge
d.kutidze@ug.edu.ge
Abstract
This study examines the evolution of civic organizing in the South Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) and seeks to determine how the Soviet occupation and the subsequent post-Soviet transformation affected the region's social structures. The study's starting point and institutional anchor is the period of late Tsarist Russia and the first republics prior to 1921, an analysis of which is essential to understanding the nature of the autonomous civic tradition that existed in the region before Sovietization.
To achieve this goal, the paper investigates the social and cultural foundations of civic organizing prior to 1921 across the three South Caucasian countries, assessing the extent to which this experience was organic to the region itself. Building upon this historical baseline, the research analyzes how the 70-year Soviet totalitarian system altered, mutated, or completely erased this historical memory and the capacity for societal self-organization. Finally, the study focuses on the post-Soviet period from 1991 to the present day to uncover what shaped the sharply divergent paths of civil sector development in all three countries, and what role was played by the local political context, internal and external conflicts, and the specific types of established regimes.
Keywords: South Caucasus; Civic Organizing; Societal Self-Organization; Post-Soviet Transformation..