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The book is a collection of articles treating the question of modernization in Georgia. It is an interdisciplinary volume, comprising the studies from disciplines of history, political science, sociology and international relations. The texts deal with the topic from various angles, creating a rich and multifaceted picture: theories of modernization, history of modernization and Europeanization efforts in Georgia from the 19th century to the present day, Soviet past and its influence on the present socio-political processes, interrelation between foreign policy and modernization project, social capital and civil society, state and nation in the Caucasus. The book takes into account both theoretical and historical dimensions of the topic, presents various interpretations of the concept of modernization and discusses how distinct processes and projects of modernizing society existed in different historical epochs in Georgia.
List of contents
Giga Zedania: Introduction. Modernization in Georgia: Theories, Discourses, Realities - Ghia Nodia: Revisiting the Concept: Georgia's Multiple Modernizations - Nino Doborjginidze: Historical Aspects of Modernity in Georgia - Timothy Blauvelt: The Entangled Modernities of Soviet Georgia - Adrian Brisku: The Place of «Europe» in Post-Soviet Georgian Modernization Discourse - David Darchiashvili: Soviet Path Dependency as an Impediment of the Democratization in Georgia - Giorgi Gvalia/Bidzina Lebanidze: Geopolitics and Modernization: Understanding Georgia's Pro-Western Assertiveness since the Rose Revolution - Hans Gutbrod: Social Capital in Georgia: Four Challenges for Modernizers - Oliver Reisner Mokalake: On the Specifics of the Development of Civil Society in Georgia - Emzar Jgerenaia/Giorgi Sabanadze Georgia: Between a State and a Homeland
About the author
Giga Zedania is professor and rector of Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia. He studied philosophy, sociology and cultural studies in Georgia, USA, Hungary and Germany. His has authored and edited numerous publications on the history of political thought, social theory and transformation of post-soviet societies.
