Foreign Orientation as an Identity Factor in the Georgian Governmental Discourse

Salome Dundua, Tamar Karaia, Zviad Abashidze

Abstract


During the entire history of Georgia, despite the territorial distance, the feeling of rapprochement with Europe and affiliation to its values was always challenging for the Georgian government. This idea is shortly and exhaustively expressed in former Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania’s historic address at the European Council in 1999 when he said: "I am Georgian and therefore I am European" (Jvania, 2013: 1).
Our paper will discuss Georgia's European orientation as a determinant in identity development after regaining independence in 1991. Among the various internal and external difficulties in these days, Georgia also faced the problem of choosing its foreign political orientation. President Shevardnadze once noted, "Economic and political rapprochement with Europe and full integration with it is the main priority of Georgia's foreign political course. “,
We will analyze the attitudes of Georgian presidents toward political orientation. Despite the differences in opinions, one thing is explicit: all of them understood the importance of integration with Europe, and all of them have made some steps toward it, which recently resulted in visa liberalization with EU member countries.


Keywords


Europe, Discourse, Identity, presidents of Georgia; foreign policy

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