Threats to National Community; a Minor Field Study on Threat Perceptions and National Identity in Georgia

Abstract: This thesis examines the influence of threat perceptions on the formation of Georgian national identity, aiming to explore the functions of perceived threats as obstacles to a reinforcement of civic elements in the conception of nation. The focus for analysis is threatening perceptions and depictions of each other by the Georgian government and the Armenian minority of the Javakheti region. Threats perceived as emanating from the internal as well as the external political arena are mapped through a set of qualitative interviews conducted during a minor field study in Georgia. Approached through the theoretical concepts of nation building and national identity, it is concluded that threat perceptions potentially hamper the development of a sense of national community crucial to a civic conception of nation. Perceptions of oppression on an ethnic basis provide for questioning of the government's legitimacy on part of the minority. While ambitions of downplaying ethnic elements in national identity seemingly provides for non- threatening depictions of the minority in official rhetoric, the threat posed by Russia compromises the loyalty of this minority in the eyes of the government.