Crossing the Conflict Divide: De facto Borders, State Belonging, and the Changing Dynamics of Enemy Relations in Abkhazia

Abstract

Focusing on the motivations of ethnic Abkhazians travelling ‘to Georgia’, this article examines the changing dynamics of enemy relations and state belonging in the contest of contested, de facto statehood. Drawing on ethnographic data collected among ordinary Abkhaz, I argue that while it can be certain limitations of life in a de facto state that motivate people to cross the conflict divide, it is simultaneously their belonging to the Abkhazian state that equips them with the confidence to encounter the ‘enemy’. This challenges the assumption that de facto statehood is necessarily detrimental to peacebuilding, instead showing how it can facilitate ‘normal’ relations.