ABSTRACT
The tortured process of post-Soviet Georgia’s attempt at state-building can only be partly traced back to its political, economic and social inheritance from the USSR. As important as these—and to a great extent determining their subsequent development—has been the parallel process of nation-building. A central drama of post-Soviet politics is that of fostering a broadly shared outlook, sense of unity, and common purpose—in short, a new national identity. In Georgia, due largely to its elites’ encouragement of a romanticized, chauvinistic, exclusive national identity, the nation is divided and the integrity of the state itself is now seriously threatened.
