Stephen F. Jones (born c. 1953) is an English expert on post-Communist societies in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe who currently serves as Chair of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts. [1]
Jones received his B.A. in 1974 from the University of Essex, his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics in 1984. [2] He has taught at the University of California, Santa Cruz (1986), the University of London (1986-88), and at the University of Oxford (1988–89). [1]
He specializes in the history and politics of the South Caucasus nations (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan). Stephen Jones speaks fluent Georgian and reads Russian and French fluently. [1] He has lectured at various schools in the United States and regularly briefs the CIA and U.S. State Department in the Caucasus. [1] [3]
The demographic features of the population of Georgia include population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.
The Caucasus, or Caucasia, is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea; mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically been considered as a natural barrier between Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
Georgia is a country located in the Caucasus, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is bounded by the Black Sea to the west, by Russia to the north and east, by Turkey to the southwest, by Armenia to the south, and by Azerbaijan to the southeast. The country covers an area of 69,700 square kilometres (26,900 sq mi), and has a population of 3.7 million people. Georgia is a representative democracy governed as a unitary parliamentary republic. Tbilisi is its capital as well as its largest city, and is home to roughly a third of the Georgian population.
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, which are sometimes collectively known as the Caucasian States. The total area of these countries measures about 186,100 square kilometres. The South Caucasus and the North Caucasus together comprise the larger Caucasus geographical region that divides Eurasia.
The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic was one of the republics of the Soviet Union from its second occupation in 1921 to its independence in 1991. Coterminous with the present-day republic of Georgia, it was based on the traditional territory of Georgia, which had existed as a series of independent states in the Caucasus prior to the first occupation of annexation in the course of the 19th century. The Georgian SSR was formed in 1921 and subsequently incorporated in the Soviet Union in 1922. Until 1936 it was a part of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, which existed as a union republic within the USSR. From November 18, 1989, the Georgian SSR declared its sovereignty over Soviet laws. The republic was renamed the Republic of Georgia on November 14, 1990, and subsequently became independent before the dissolution of the Soviet Union on April 9, 1991, whereupon each former SSR became a sovereign state.
The Democratic Republic of Georgia was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia, which existed from May 1918 through February 1921. Recognized by all major European powers of the time, DRG was created in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917, which led to the collapse of the Russian Empire and allowed territories formerly under Saint Petersburg's rule to assert independence. In contrast to Bolshevik Russia, DRG was governed by a moderate, multi-party political system led by the Georgian Social Democratic Party (Menshevik).
The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was a short-lived state in the Caucasus that included most of the territory of the present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as parts of Russia and Turkey. The state lasted only for a month before Georgia declared independence, followed shortly after by Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Abkhaz–Georgian conflict involves ethnic conflict between Georgians and the Abkhaz people in Abkhazia, a de facto independent, partially recognized republic. In a broader sense, one can view the Georgian–Abkhaz conflict as part of a geopolitical conflict in the Caucasus region, intensified at the end of the 20th century with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Red Army invasion of Georgia, also known as the Soviet–Georgian War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia, was a military campaign by the Russian Red Army aimed at overthrowing the Social-Democratic (Menshevik) government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) and installing a Bolshevik regime in the country. The conflict was a result of expansionist policy by the Russians, who aimed to control as much as possible of the lands which had been part of the former Russian Empire until the turbulent events of the First World War, as well as the revolutionary efforts of mostly Russian-based Georgian Bolsheviks, who did not have sufficient support in their native country to seize power without external intervention.
The Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as Abkhaz ASSR, was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union within the Georgian SSR. It came into existence in February 1931, when the Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia, originally created in March 1921, was transformed to the status of Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian SSR.
The Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia was a short-lived republic within the Caucasus region of the Soviet Union that covered the territory of Abkhazia, and existed from 31 March 1921 to 19 February 1931. Formed in the aftermath of the Red Army invasion of Georgia in 1921, it was independent until 16 December 1921 when it agreed to a treaty that united it with the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. The SSR Abkhazia was similar to an autonomous Soviet republic, though it retained nominal independence from Georgia and was given certain features only full union republics had, like its own military units. Through its status as a "treaty republic" with Georgia, Abkhazia joined the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, which united Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian SSRs into one federal unit when the latter was formed in 1922. The SSR Abkhazia was abolished in 1931 and replaced with the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian SSR.
The Sukhumi riot was a riot in Sukhumi, Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, in July 1989, triggered by an increasing inter-ethnic tensions between the Abkhaz and Georgian communities and followed by several days of street fighting and civil unrest in Sukhumi and throughout Abkhazia.
The Georgian Socialist-Federalist Revolutionary Party was a Georgian nationalist party, founded in April 1904. The party's program demanded the national autonomy of Georgia, within the framework of a Russian federal state, and advocated for a democratic socialist system. Mainly based in the rural areas, the party's membership was almost entirely drawn from the peasantry and the petty gentry. The political profile of the party had an appeal amongst moderately nationalist intellectuals, schoolteachers and students. The party strived that agricultural issues not be decided by central authorities, but by autonomous national institutions. The party published the periodical Sakartvelo.
The Armenian National Congress was a political congress established to provide representation for Armenians of the Russian Empire. It first met at the Artistic Theatre in Tbilisi on 11 October [O.S. 28 September] 1917. Its formation was prompted by the opportunities the Russian Revolution provided for Armenians towards the end of World War I.
The Georgia–Russia border is the state border between Georgia and Russia. It is de jure 894 km in length and runs from the Black Sea coast in the west and then along the Greater Caucasus Mountains to the tripoint with Azerbaijan in the east, thus closely following the conventional boundary between Europe and Asia. In 2008 Russia recognised the independence of two self-declared republics within Georgia, meaning that in a de facto sense the border is now split into four sections: the Abkhazia–Russia border in the west, the western Georgia–Russia border between Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the South Ossetia–Russia border and the eastern Georgia–Russia border between South Ossetia and Azerbaijan. At present most of the international community refuse to recognise the independence of the two territories and regard them as belonging to Georgia.
Independence Day is an annual public holiday in Georgia observed on 26 May. It commemorates the 26 May 1918 adoption of the Act of Independence, which established the Democratic Republic of Georgia in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917. It is the national day of Georgia. Independence Day is associated with military parades, fireworks, concerts, fairs, and political speeches and ceremonies, in addition to various other public and private events celebrating the history and culture of Georgia.
Alexander "Alex" Rondeli was a Georgian political scientist and one of the country's leading specialists in international affairs who founded and led the think-tank Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies from 1998 until his death in 2015.
The beginning of Georgian nationalism can be traced to the middle of the 19th century, when Georgia was part of the Russian Empire. From being more culture-focused in the Imperial Russian and Soviet periods, it went through several phases, evolving into radical ethnocentric in the late 1980s and early in the post-Soviet independence years, and to a more inclusive and civic-oriented form in the mid-2000s. However, vestiges of ethnic nationalism remain among many Georgians.
Ilia Chavchavadze Society is a political organisation from Georgia. The group dates back to the days of the Soviet Union, where it was an important factor in the growth of Georgian nationalism.
Anarchism in Georgia began to emerge during the late 19th-century out of the Georgian national liberation movement and the Russian nihilist movement. It reached its apex during the 1905 Russian Revolution, after a number of anarchists returned from exile to participate in revolutionary activities, such as in the newly-established Gurian Republic.
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