Ethnic narrative, ethnic conflict, ethnic violence : the impact of minority rights protection on ethnic conflicts in Georgia

Abstract

The aim of the following work is to research how the situation for minorities in Georgia has influenced the outbreak of ethnic conflicts in the country and whether the protection of minority rights has improved as a result of the democratisation processes that were started after the Rose Revolution. In order to examine the influence of minority rights protection on ethnic conflict a comparative approach that takes different influential theories into account will be used. The material will be analyzed based on a Critical Discourse Analysis, a type of analytical research dealing with the discourse dimensions. Successively, for the minority rights improvement in Georgia, all international standards on minority rights must be accepted by the Georgian government as a result of the states wish to affiliate itself with the Euro-Atlantic structures and the western form of democracy. International organisations can then help the minorities to use the obligation that the state formulated to advance domestic legislation and policies. Moreover, civil society representing the minorities has to be capacitated to represent minority demands towards the state and change the discourse around minority rights that exists nowadays in Georgia. The cooperation of state and the civil society should establish a dialogue between the state and the minority communities that breaks down the previous mistrust and builds up a new civic identity which includes all citizens of Georgia. Furthermore it will be concluded that though the process of democratisation is ongoing in Georgia the progress of the minority rights is slow and fragile. A multitude of external factors, including the recent conflicts with Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Russia, as well as the lack of political competition in Georgia, are slowing the aforementioned progress.