Robert English

The tortured process of post-Soviet Georgia's attempt at state-build-
ing can only be partly traced back to its political, economic and social
inheritance from the USSR. As important as these--and to a great extent
determining their subsequent development--has been the parallel
process of nation-building. A central drama of post-Soviet politics is that
of fostering a broadly shared outlook, sense of unity, and common pur-
pose--in short, a new national identity. In Georgia, due largely to its
elites' encouragement of a romanticized, chauvinistic, exclusive national
identity, the nation is divided and the integrity of the state itself is now
seriously threatened.

While the rise of ethnic conflict as a primary feature of post-Commu-
nist politics has given nationalism an overwhelmingly negative connota-
tion, its historic meaning and role have been considerably more positive.
The emergence of nations, of large polities sharing a common identity,
outlook and purpose, was in many ways the crux of European 18th- and
19th-century politics and the transition to "modernity." ¹ Some find the
nation's primary role in adapting society to rapid development: in
replacing lost village or local ties, for example, or in the standardizing
linguistic and cultural functions demanded by a dynamic, modernizing
economy ² Others, while not disagreeing with these functional contribu-
tions, note that the emergence of modern nations preceded industrializa-
tion and locate the nation's deeper roots in a basic desire of human com-

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