Towards the “Normal” State

This book explores the dilemmas of Georgian foreign policy since independence in 1991. Foreign policy has sought to reconcile the dream of European identity with the reality of being a small, post-colonial nation that was governed from Russia for nearly two centuries and remains mired in border conflicts with Russia.

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This book explores the dilemmas of Georgian foreign policy since independence in 1991. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia—a Caucasian republic with a fiercely independent national identity—has sought its own special path to European modernity, a promised land of prosperity and peace. Foreign policy has sought to reconcile the dream of European identity with the reality of being a small, post-colonial nation that was governed from Russia for nearly two centuries and remains mired in border conflicts with Russia. In an era when Russian concerns about sovereignty are once again dominating geopolitics, this book interests historians, scholars of imperialism, and scholars of the former Soviet Union and its messy politics.