Wars that did not happen: cases of Javakhk, Kvemo Kartli and Ajaria

Abstract

The purpose of the this Master’s Essay is to study the factors which appeased ethnic conflicts in Javakhk and Kvemo Kartli after Georgia’s independence in 1991, thus those conflicts never turned into a war. The research also incorporates the conflict of Ajaria in the same time frame, discussing it from the point of view of religious base as one of the components of ethnicity. The essay provides theoretical background for the study of the ethnicity from the primordialist and constructivist perspectives and ethnicity-as-conflictual theories which give a comprehensive notion about the nature of ethnic conflicts and ethnicity in general. The study also refers to the current development in Georgia regarding ethnic minorities in Javakhk, Kvemo Kartli and Ajaria and investigate whether there have been any incentives for the conflicts to escalate since the Rose Revolution 2003.