This book provides an up-to-date discussion of the effect of crises on European identities in the post-Soviet states. In doing so, the book presents an original study on dynamics of European identities during four crises in Georgia and Ukraine. More specifically, it considers the comparative impact of two colour revolutions and wars involving Russia on European identity constructions in Georgian and Ukrainian public identity discourses, studied through national mass media. It compares outcomes of change and continuity during such "big bang" events in identity discourses and establishes scope conditions that allow or inhibit change. The major finding of the study is that the selected events can indeed instigate sudden shifts in European identity discourses but only when the elite power structure also changes in such hybrid regimes, as Ukraine and Georgia. These changes include shifts in elite groups and in the relative power they hold in theoverall power structure.
Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. European identity and foreign policy in Georgia and Ukraine since 1991.- Chapter 3. Georgia: European identity discourses and elite relations under crises.- Chapter 4. Ukraine: European identity discourses and elite relations under crises.- Chapter 5. Variance under crises compared.- Chapter 6. Conclusion: Critical junctures and change in European identity discourses.
Salome Minesashvili is Lecturer in International Relations, Political Science and Post-Soviet Politics at the Freie Universität Berlin and ESCP Europe, Germany. She is also a Research Analyst at the Tbilisi-based think tank, Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP). She has published articles and book chapters on the topics of foreign policy analysis, identity politics, soft power politics, EU-Eastern Neighbourhood relations and transformation processes in the former Soviet Union.
"European Identity During Wars and Revolutions offers an essential retrospective on the evolution of the European identity discourse. One of the significant merits of this work is the author's combination of longitudinal analysis with the three categorisations of identifications ... . This fine book will be useful to anyone wishing to gain a better understanding of the transformation of European identities in Georgia and Ukraine in relation to regime change and crises." (Clara Weller, Europe-Asia Studies, November 8, 2023)
