Forms, Bases of Ethnopolitical Conflicts and their Role in Geopolitics of Georgia

摘要

Ethnopolitical conflicts undoubtedly occupy a special position in a diverse palette of conflicts caused by different reasons and being carriers of different character, as the most longstanding and nagging problems. Conflicts taking place in the post-Soviet space, including the South Caucasus, can be regarded as a definite echo of global changes in the geopolitical situation within the former Soviet Union (FSU) and throughout the world. As regards the conflicts going in the South Caucasus, it can also be said that since the region is in the sphere of geopolitical and economic interests of global actors of international relations, such as the USA, Russia, European Union, and also of the influential regional actors - Turkey and Iran, the final settlement of said conflicts is hardly imaginable without taking into accounte the interests of these states. The erroneous national policy and many other factors gave rise to open conflicts in Abkhazia and Shida Kartli, against the background of which the relaxation of attention from the central government to the regions representing potential sources of new enthocrises is observable. The latent ethno-conflicting areas include the border regions of Georgia and are distinguished by a small number of population; at that, the dominating ethnic minorities create the so-called "ethnic micro-territories" and live in the territory of Georgia that border the motherland of these ethnic groups.