Explore the vast range of titles available.

Drawing heavily on Georgian sources, the author offers readers a unique opportunity to appreciate why the Abkhazians and South Ossetians have seen no alternative to resisting the threats emanating from Tbilisi by refusing to join an independent Georgia.

\"No Path Homeis an extremely interesting, engaging, and well-written book. Elizabeth Cullen Dunn's fluid and clear prose paints a very evocative picture of life for internally displaced persons as well as presenting a clear theoretical account.\"-Laura Hammond, SOAS University of London, author ofThis Place Will Become Home For more than 60 million displaced people around the world, humanitarian aid has become a chronic condition.No Path Homedescribes its symptoms in detail. Elizabeth Cullen Dunn shows how war creates a deeply damaged world in which the structures that allow people to occupy social roles, constitute economic value, preserve bodily integrity, and engage in meaningful daily practice have been blown apart.After the Georgian war with Russia in 2008, Dunn spent sixteen months immersed in the everyday lives of the 28,000 people placed in thirty-six resettlement camps by official and nongovernmental organizations acting in concert with the Georgian government. She reached the conclusion that the humanitarian condition poses a survival problem that is not only biological but also existential. InNo Path Home, she paints a moving picture of the ways in which humanitarianism leaves displaced people in limbo, neither in a state of emergency nor able to act as normal citizens in the country where they reside.

Since 2009 Russia has increased its military forces in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and pursued the policy of ‘creeping annexation in the occupied territories of Georgia. Today, 20% of Georgian territories are occupied by the Russian Federation. The Russian-baked separatists continuously erect barbed-wire border posts in one of the occupied regions of Georgia-South Ossetia and detain Georgian people, under the pretext of ‘illegally crossing the border’. Fundamental rights of the local population are violated daily since the occupants install barbers through people’s houses, gardens, and cultivated lands. Innocent citizens are forced to leave their homes, belongings, and cultivated lands that are left beyond the occupants’ demarcation line. The paper argues that along with other global challenges of the world, the USA-Russia clashes of interests are also found with the Georgian conflicts. While Washington hugely supports Georgia’s territorial integrity and welcomes its Euro-Atlantic aspirations, the Russian Federation, on the contrary, prevents the aforementioned process and directly opposes Georgia’s integration into NATO. The USA condemns Russia’s creeping annexation of Georgian territories and continuously calls on Russia to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent country. Furthermore, the USA-Russia relations have considerably deteriorated following Russia’s military intervention in Georgia and the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.

The 2008 Ossetia War underlined the fact that Georgia is caught in a political struggle between East and West. Per Gahrton analyses American and Russian policy towards the country and provides a firsthand account of the Rose Revolution of 2003, its origin and aftermath. The book traces the increasing US involvement in Georgia and the Russian reaction of anger, sanctions and, eventually, invasion. Gahrton's analysis is based on interviews with key politicians and his experience as the rapporteur of the European Parliament on South Caucasus. At centre stage is the growing opposition against authoritarian aspects of President Mikheil Saakashvili’s regime and the mysterious death of Prime Minister Zhvania in 2005. The book also asks if the Rose Revolution was a conspiracy or a genuine popular uprising. This truly authoritative account of Georgia is a must for students studying international relations in the aftermath of The Cold War.

In sum, by showing how and why local regional disputes quickly develop into global crises through the paired power of historical memory and time-space compression, Near Abroad reshapes our understanding of the current conflict raging in the center of the Eurasian landmass and international politics as a whole.

Russia’s invasion of South Ossetia in August 2008 was not the beginning of the former Soviet republic of Georgia’s troubles. Following the 2003 Rose Revolution, President Mikheil Saakashvili embarked on a program of sweeping reform and expanded the powers of the executive. Improved access to public goods and internationally-recognized achievements in the sphere of economic reform followed. The building of state capacity and its attendant project of renovating Georgian culture, however, seem to have come at a high cost to Georgian democracy, as opposition parties and the media find themselves marginalized and public unrest becomes increasingly difficult to quell.

In the wake of the 2008 conflict with Georgia, Russia has re-established itself as the dominant actor in the South Caucasus, consolidating its military presence in the region and reinforcing its already substantial diplomatic and economic levers. This essay examines recent Russian policy towards the region as Moscow attempts to counterbalance growing Western involvement within what it perceives to be its zone of 'privileged interest', focusing on military aspects of its policy towards Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the implications for security across the South Caucasus.

The article investigates the reasons that led the Bolsheviks to grant autonomous status to South Ossetia in 1922. The conflict between Ossetians and Georgians during the civil war started as a social dispute but rapidly turned into an ethnic confrontation. The Ossetians turned to the Bolsheviks for support, but by 1920 they were defeated and largely expelled from their territory. After the Sovietisation of the region in 1921 the Bolsheviks needed to solve the conflict: the solution adopted was to grant autonomous status. This was not-as is often believed-the result of a divide et impera policy but an attempt at conflict resolution that in the long run satisfied neither side.

Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan and the breakaway territories within them constitute one of the most diverse and challenging regions on earth, intimidating the first-time visitor with their multi-layered history, ethnic complexity, and seemingly intractable conflicts. Over the last few years, the South Caucasus has captured international attention again because of its role in disputes between the West and Russia, its unresolved ethnic conflicts, and its role as a crucial energy transport corridor to Europe. The Caucasus is an essential guide to the region, covering its history, Russia's role there from tsarist times to the Soviet era, its energy politics, and Georgia's extraordinary recent past from the 2003 Rose Revolution to the Five-Day War of 2008.

Thisbook addresses multiple aspects of the conflict between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia in August 2008, including the use of force, human rights, transnational litigation and international law 'rhetoric'. The particulars of the conflict are explored alongside their wider implications for international order.