Download or read book Mobilizing in Uncertainty written by Anastasia Shesterinina and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-15 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do ordinary people navigate the intense uncertainty of the onset of war? Different individuals mobilize in different ways—some flee, some pick up arms, and some support armed actors as civil war begins. Drawing on nearly two hundred in-depth interviews with participants and nonparticipants in the Georgian-Abkhaz war of 1992–1993, Anastasia Shesterinina explores Abkhaz mobilization decisions during that conflict. Her fresh approach underscores the uncertain nature of the first days of the war when Georgian forces had a preponderance of manpower and arms. Mobilizing in Uncertainty demonstrates, in contrast to explanations that assume individuals know the risk involved in mobilization and make decisions based on that knowledge, that the Abkhaz anticipated risk in ways that were affected by their earlier experiences and by social networks at the time of mobilization. What Shesterinina uncovers is that to make sense of the violence, Abkhaz leaders, local authority figures, and others relied on shared understandings of the conflict and their roles in it—collective conflict identities—that they had developed before the war. As appeals traveled across society, people consolidated mobilization decisions within small groups of family and friends and based their actions on whom they understood to be threatened. Their decisions shaped how the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict unfolded and how people continued to mobilize during and after the war. Through this detailed analysis of Abkhaz mobilization from prewar to postwar, Mobilizing in Uncertainty sheds light on broader processes of violence, which have lasting effects on societies marked by intergroup conflict.

Download or read book Abkhaz written by B. G. Hewitt and published by Routledge. This book was released on 1979 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Abkhazians written by George Hewitt and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-19 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook provides a ready introduction and practical guide to the Abkhazian people and language. It includes chapters written by experts in the field, covering all aspects of the people, including their history, religion, politics, economy, culture, literature and media, plus pictures, chronologies and appendices of up-to-date statistics, maps and bibliographies. This volume forms part of the Peoples of the Caucasus series which is an indispensable - and accessible - resource to all those with an interest in the Caucasus: journalists, aid workers, regional specialists in government, law, banking, accounting, as well as tourists, business people, students and academics.

Download or read book A Federal Perspective on the Abkhaz Georgian Conflict written by Neno Gabelia and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2017-08-21 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the beginning of the 21st century, the problem of the development of regional security has become increasingly relevant in international politics. Of particular concern is the post-Soviet space, which remains in the most difficult process of transformation. The Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, which entered a sharp phase in 1992, was one of the first and most lengthy (1992–2008) international conflicts in the former Soviet Union. Complex factors, such as the deep roots of the confrontation, the great human sacrifices of the political parties during the hostilities, the high degree of defensive involvement of the entire population of Abkhazia, and the asymmetry in the approaches of the parties, all determine the need for an analysis of the nature and the origins and dynamics of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. This book identifies the nature and the origins of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict and the causes of the inefficiency of the official negotiation process, and it evaluates the hypothesis of a possible federalist transformation of the institutions of both Georgia and Abkhazia. In the international panorama, federalism, in fact, is being increasingly considered as an instrument of conflict transformation in the case of conflicts based on cultural diversity and ethnicity.

Download or read book Nart Sagas from the Caucasus written by John Colarusso and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2002-11-10 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Nart sagas are a series of tales originating from the North Caucasus, forming the basic mythology of the tribes in the area. In ninety-two straightforward tales populated by extraordinary characters and exploits, by giants who humble haughty Narts, by horses and sorceresses, these myths bring these cultures to life in a powerful epos. In these colorful tales, women, not least the beautiful temptress Satanaya, the mother of all Narts, are not only fertility figures but also pillars of authority and wisdom. In one variation on a recurring theme, a shepherd, overcome with passion on observing Satanaya bathing alone, shoots a "bolt of lust" that strikes a rock -- a rock that gives birth to the Achilles-like Sawseruquo, or Sosruquo. With steely skin but tender knees, Sawseruquo is a man the Narts come to love and hate. Despite a tragic history, the Circassians, Abazas, Abkhaz, and Ubykhs have retained the Nart sagas as a living tradition. The memory of their elaborate warrior culture, so richly expressed by these tales, helped them resist Tsarist imperialism in the nineteenth century, Stalinist suppression in the twentieth, and has bolstered their ongoing cultural journey into the post-Soviet future. Because these peoples were at the crossroads of Eurasia for millennia, their myths exhibit striking parallels with the lore of ancient India, classical Greece, and pagan Scandinavia. The Nart sagas may also have formed a crucial component of the Arthurian cycle. Notes after each tale reveal these parallels; an appendix offers extensive linguistic commentary.

Download or read book The Caucasus written by Thomas De Waal and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new edition of The Caucasus is a thorough update of an essential guide that has introduced thousands of readers to a complex region. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and the break-away territories that have tried to split away from them constitute one of the most diverse and challenging regions on earth, impressing the visitor with their multi-layered history and ethnic complexity. Over the last few years, the South Caucasus region has captured international attention again because of disputes between the West and Russia, its unresolved conflicts, and its role as an energy transport corridor to Europe. The Caucasus gives the reader a historical overview and an authoritative guide to the three conflicts that have blighted the region. Thomas de Waal tells the story of the "Five-Day War" between Georgia and Russia and recent political upheavals in all three countries. He also finds time to tell the reader about Georgian wine, Baku jazz and how the coast of Abkhazia was known as "Soviet Florida." Short, stimulating and rich in detail, The Caucasus is the perfect guide to this fascinating and little-understood region.

Download or read book Conflict in Nagorno Karabakh Abkhazia and South Ossetia written by Tim Potier and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-12-28 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The conflicts in the South Caucasus are now a decade old, but still appear impervious to solution. The hopes that independence raised have been dashed by an insidious cocktail of past and present regional hegemony, historical antipathy and Soviet planning. Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, thus, continue to wait for their long awaited Spring. In a region where Western academic writing has focussed, during the last decade, almost exclusively on the dynamics of regional security and Great Power rivalry, even in the context of conflict, this volume provides an important and necessary legal appraisal of the possible processes and structures which may, ultimately, facilitate the finding of constitutional settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In the work, Tim Potier, an academic lawyer with much experience in the Caucasus, has written a powerful but dispassionate account which will prove not only to be of use to academics, diplomats and government officials working in the region, but also be of lasting value to the ongoing development of the international law on self-determination and autonomy. Dr Potier also considers the fate of what he prefers to term, `regionally non-dominant titular peoples'.

Download or read book A E written by Library of Congress. Office for Subject Cataloging Policy and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 1548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Typology of Subordination in Georgian and Abkhaz written by Brian G. Hewitt and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 1987 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The series is a platform for contributions of all kinds to this rapidly developing field. General problems are studied from the perspective of individual languages, language families, language groups, or language samples. Conclusions are the result of a deepened study of empirical data. Special emphasis is given to little-known languages, whose analysis may shed new light on long-standing problems in general linguistics.

Download or read book Discordant Neighbours A Reassessment of the Georgian Abkhazian and Georgian South Ossetian Conflicts written by B. George Hewitt and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2013-03-27 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2008 Georgian-Russian war focused the world’s attention on the Caucasus. South Ossetia and Abkhazia had been de facto independent since the early 1990s. However, Russia’s granting of recognition on 26 August 2008 changed regional dynamics. The Caucasus is one of the most ethnically diverse areas on earth, and the conflicts examined here present their own complexities. This book sets the issues in their historical and political contexts and discusses potential future problems. This volume is distinguished from others devoted to the same themes by the extensive use the author (a Georgian specialist) makes of Georgian sources, inaccessible to most commentators. His translated citations thus cast a unique and revealing light on the interethnic relations that have fuelled these conflicts.

Download or read book Library of Congress Subject Headings written by Library of Congress and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 1816 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Mobilizing in Uncertainty written by Anastasia Shesterinina and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-15 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do ordinary people navigate the intense uncertainty of the onset of war? Different individuals mobilize in different ways—some flee, some pick up arms, and some support armed actors as civil war begins. Drawing on nearly two hundred in-depth interviews with participants and nonparticipants in the Georgian-Abkhaz war of 1992–1993, Anastasia Shesterinina explores Abkhaz mobilization decisions during that conflict. Her fresh approach underscores the uncertain nature of the first days of the war when Georgian forces had a preponderance of manpower and arms. Mobilizing in Uncertainty demonstrates, in contrast to explanations that assume individuals know the risk involved in mobilization and make decisions based on that knowledge, that the Abkhaz anticipated risk in ways that were affected by their earlier experiences and by social networks at the time of mobilization. What Shesterinina uncovers is that to make sense of the violence, Abkhaz leaders, local authority figures, and others relied on shared understandings of the conflict and their roles in it—collective conflict identities—that they had developed before the war. As appeals traveled across society, people consolidated mobilization decisions within small groups of family and friends and based their actions on whom they understood to be threatened. Their decisions shaped how the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict unfolded and how people continued to mobilize during and after the war. Through this detailed analysis of Abkhaz mobilization from prewar to postwar, Mobilizing in Uncertainty sheds light on broader processes of violence, which have lasting effects on societies marked by intergroup conflict.

Download or read book Routledge Handbook of the Caucasus written by Galina M. Yemelianova and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-03-13 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Handbook of the Caucasus offers an integrated, multidisciplinary overview of the historical, ethno-linguistic, cultural, socio-economic and political complexities of the Caucasus. Covering both the North and South Caucasus, the book gathers together leading Western, Caucasian and Russian scholars of the region from different disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Following a thorough introduction by the editors, the handbook is divided into six parts which combine thematic and chronological principles: Place, peoples and culture Political history The contemporary Caucasus: politics, economics and societies Conflict and political violence The Caucasus in the wider world Societal and cultural dynamics. This handbook will be an essential reference work for scholars interested in Russian and Eastern-European studies, Eurasian history and politics, and religious and Islamic studies.

Download or read book De Facto States written by Tozun Bahcheli and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-09-09 with total page 570 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this new century, the relentless appeal of national self-determination has moved beyond decolonisation. A large group of de facto states, would-be sovereignties, now seek international recognition. In some cases these 'nations in waiting' have already established the exclusivity of their writ on the ground and wait only for the outside world to come to terms with the realities of their existence. In others, there are powerful external players who could undermine their claims on one hand or ensure their success on the other. The cases described in this book are to be found throughout the world: Abkhazia and Chechnya in the Caucasus; Kosovo, Montenegro, Republika Srpska, and Transnistria in eastern Europe; Palestine and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the Middle East; Somaliland in Africa; and Bougainville in the Pacific. Are these isolated voices or a harbinger of things to come? Their demands for separate statehood have breached the orthodoxies of territorial integrity and eroded the taboos of secession. Other large states, such as Indonesia, Nigeria, and the Sudan, also teeter on the brink of disintegration.

Download or read book Russia s Recognition of the Independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia written by Nikoloz Samkharadze and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2021-05-18 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Russian Federation’s official acknowledgement of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in August 2008 has since been undermining both overall political stability in the Southern Caucasus in general and future perspectives of Georgia’s development in particular. Such recognition of new quasi-legal entities without consent of the parent state and a subsequent erosion of the principle of territorial integrity are pressing challenges in current world affairs. The Kremlin’s controversial 2008 decision continues to be an important bone of contention in Russian-Western relations. This study explores the emergence and recent transformation of modern norms of recognition, secession, and self-determination in international law. It traces the evolution of Soviet and Russian perspectives on the recognition of new states, and discusses overall Georgia-Russia relations in order to answer the question: Why did the Kremlin recognize Georgia’s two breakaway entities in contradiction to traditional Russian approaches to recognition? The author argues that Moscow’s deviant behavior vis-à-vis Tbilisi was caused by three major reasons, namely: the earlier recognition of Kosovo by many Western nations in disregard of Russia’s stance, the intention to prevent Georgia’s accession to NATO, and the necessity to legitimize a continued presence of Russian armed forces in Georgia’s two breakaway provinces.

Download or read book Nation Building and Identity in the Post Soviet Space written by Rico Isaacs and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-14 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nation-building as a process is never complete and issues related to identity, nation, state and regime-building are recurrent in the post-Soviet region. This comparative, inter-disciplinary volume explores how nation-building tools emerged and evolved over the last twenty years. Featuring in-depth case studies from countries throughout the post-Soviet space it compares various aspects of nation-building and identity formation projects. Approaching the issue from a variety of disciplines, and geographical areas, contributors illustrate chapter by chapter how different state and non-state actors utilise traditional instruments of nation-construction in new ways while also developing non-traditional tools and strategies to provide a contemporary account of how nation-formation efforts evolve and diverge.

Download or read book Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet State written by Mark R. Beissinger and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-02-04 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 2002 study examines the process of the disintegration of the Soviet state.