Georgia: Frozen Conflict and the Role of Displaced Persons
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University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2009 Georgia: Frozen Conflict and the Role of Displaced ersonsP Kate Elizabeth Zimmerly University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Political History Commons Recommended Citation Zimmerly, Kate Elizabeth, "Georgia: Frozen Conflict and the Role of Displaced ersons"P (2009). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 737. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/737 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. Georgia: Frozen Conflict and the Role of Displaced Persons __________ A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the University of Denver University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts __________ by Kate E. Zimmerly March 2009 Advisor: Dr. Tamra Pearson d’Estree Author: Kate E. Zimmerly Title: Georgia: Frozen Conflict and the Role of Displaced Persons Advisor: Dr. Tamra Pearson d’Estree Degree Date: March 2009 ABSTRACT Though commonly overlooked, communities of displaced persons often play a complex and significant role in the emergence and perpetuation of ethnic conflict. This paper looks at the intersection of these themes in the conflict between the former Soviet Republic of Georgia and the separatist region of Abkhazia. In particular it looks at the nature of protracted or “frozen” conflict with particular attention to the role of the displaced community in the conflict’s entrenchment. Specifically, it seeks to answer the question: why do certain conflicts go unresolved for so long, and what role do refugees play in this resolution resistance? The paper is based on field research conducted in Georgia, including interviews with 45 Georgian internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Abkhazia. The results of the study suggest that various forces and motivations acting on the IDP community have the effect of entrenching it in the ambiguous state of neither returning to Abkhazia nor integrating into Georgian society that has become the status quo, and that this entrenchment plays a role in the factors that contribute to the frozen state of the conflict. In particular, the study suggests that power and identity play an unexpectedly large role in maintaining this population’s status quo. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are numerous individuals and organizations to whom I owe tremendous thanks and gratitude. First and foremost, I am extremely grateful to my advisor Dr. Tamra Pearson d’Estree. Her advice, patience, and invaluable insight made the completion of this thesis possible; and the work contained herein would be far inferior were it not for her support and wisdom. To my reader, Dr. Timothy Sisk, and to my Committee Chairperson, Dr. Martin Rhodes, I owe tremendous thanks for their comments and critiques that helped to strengthen and round the arguments in this thesis. Furthermore, I want to express my appreciation to my parents, whose support in everything I do is beyond description. There are also a number of people in the Republic of Georgia whose help was invaluable in the completion of the field study that is at the center of this thesis. I owe tremendous thanks to Dr. Guguli Magradze, director of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Management (ICAM) at Tbilisi State University. Dr. Magradze’s help in completing this research was more invaluable than I can probably ever realize. For their help in translating my interview questionnaire and for the generous hospitality they showed me, I am very grateful to the faculty and staff at ICAM, specifically Dr. Rezo Jorbenadze, Dr. Medea Depotashvili. I am also indebted to a number of remarkable organizations whose peacebuilding work in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict is truly exemplary, and to the individuals at these organizations that shared their time and work with me. To Tamara, Miranda, Giorgi, Iago, and Guram who served as translators, guides, and so much more in helping me to conduct interviews for this study: my gratitude to you for your help is outweighed only by my admiration for you and by how fortunate I feel to call you my peers. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, to the forty-five individuals who took the time to share their opinions, hopes, fears, and stories with me: my gratitude to you is without measure. I can only hope that work contained in these pages does some degree of justice to the generosity of spirit that you showed me. iii Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 Chapter Two: Literature Review ................................................................................................ 10 Defining Frozen Conflict ............................................................................................... 10 The Longevity of Frozen Conflict ................................................................................. 21 Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 45 Chapter Three: Case Background ............................................................................................... 50 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 50 Roots of Conflict: Pre-Soviet ......................................................................................... 49 Soviet Roots of Conflict ................................................................................................ 55 Outbreak of War ............................................................................................................ 57 Theories on the Conflict ................................................................................................ 62 Attempts at Resolution ................................................................................................... 66 The IDP Population ....................................................................................................... 68 Chapter Four: Methodology ........................................................................................................ 75 Overview ........................................................................................................................ 75 Procedure ....................................................................................................................... 76 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 81 Chapter Five: Results .................................................................................................................. 82 Demographics ................................................................................................................ 83 Level 1: Forces within the IDP Community .................................................................. 88 Level 2: Emerging Themes .......................................................................................... 108 Chapter Six: Discussion ............................................................................................................ 118 Chapter Seven: Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 131 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 142 Appendices ................................................................................................................................ 149 Appendix A: Maps ....................................................................................................... 149 Appendix B: Interview Questionnaire ......................................................................... 150 iv List of Tables Table 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 13 Table 2 ...................................................................................................................................... 92 Table 3 ...................................................................................................................................... 93 Table 4 .................................................................................................................................... 107 Table 5 .................................................................................................................................... 116 v List of Figures Figure 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 36 Figure 2 ...................................................................................................................................... 49 Figure 3 ...................................................................................................................................... 60 Figure 4 .....................................................................................................................................