Broken policies: Re-escalation of violence in the South Ossetia conflict 1989 2008. Mechanisms of Western influence on Georgian state leaderships prior to escalations in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict in 2002, 2004 and 2008.

Abstract

The dissertation explains escalations of violence in the South Ossetia conflict between 1989 and 2008 by examining external mechanisms of EU and U.S. ("Western") agency and their influence on power-consolidating policies of Georgian state actors in the context of the conflict. Predominant scholarship on the conflict neglects endogenous, process-centered factors of escalation and begs for systematic analysis of how and why the conflict escalated at the points in time observed. Therefore, the study argues that the policies of Western external actors at specific points in time repeatedly encouraged or allowed local state leadership in Georgia to shift toward more assertive policies, with the result of escalation of violence in South Ossetia. Lastly, the study reflects the findings on the cases of Sri Lanka and Kashmir.