Crisis and opportunity in the republic of Georgia

Abstract

This paper describes how the crisis in the Republic of Georgia is multifaceted, embracing intercommunal relations, the economy, legal structure and process; foreign policy, and the state itself. The author describes how the dimensions of the crisis are not autonomous, but interact “perversely.” The paper argues that although foreign assistance should not be considered a panacea for the multiplicity of mainly domestic economic, political and security problems facing Georgia, neither should it be discounted as a means to alleviate some of the most compelling concerns such as feeding the population, establishing some government control, legitimizing the state, and negotiating a political settlement among the warring ethnic communities. The paper argues that it is both in Canada's interests and within in its means to play a role in helping to resolve some of Georgia's current difficulties. On the international side, with the power vacuum in the Caucasus created by the disintegration of the USSR, efforts by Canada and other Western states to underline their support for Georgian territorial integrity may assist in moderating Russian behaviour in the Caucasus and also limit the negative implications of the spillover of the interethnic conflicts in Georgia to Turkey and Iran.