Proceedings of ‏The 10th International Conference on Humanities, Psychology and Social Sciences

Year: 2020

DOI:

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The European orientation of Georgia

Emzar Pazhava

ABSTRACT: 

The European orientation of Georgia from ancient times until today is discussed in the work. Every important issue, which took place during this part of the history is briefly reviewed in the article. The following topics are discussed in the article: relationships of Georgia with ancient world; Georgian identity similarities with European; Georgian participation in the Crusades; the correspondence of the Georgian kings with the Pope; activities of the Catholic
missionaries in Georgia; the attempts of Georgian kings to establish relations with Europe; the activities of Georgian immigrants in Europe and their role in unifying Europe; the participation of Georgia in European integration processes and its impact on further development of the country. Despite many obstacles, Georgia has always had cultural, religious, military, diplomatic,
political and economic links with European world, which eventually determined the relations of Georgia towards European values and played the crucial role in the orientation of the country. That is why this issue is so topical and its research is reckoned to be an urgent task, as studying historical relations is so important for the future of Georgia. The goal of the paper is a multilateral research of the processes of the European orientation of Georgia. The research, at the same time, will enable us to show the influence of European and Western culture and the relationship with Georgian culture, the role of Europe in the development of Georgian culture. Besides, we can find out the Georgia-European co-existence traditions over centuries, what kind of relations existed and how it reflected on Georgia’s internal and foreign political orientation. The content of the work, its conclusions and recommendations will facilitate to create the theoretical basis, not only about the European orientation of Georgia but also on the issues of Georgian-European multilateral relations. At the same time, the conclusions and recommendations should be based on the research of Georgian-European identity characteristics. Result of the research will help Georgian and foreign scientists to understand European orientation of Georgia better, to perceive European identity of Georgia, which will be something of a novelty for the Georgian and European historiography.

Keywords: Europe, Georgia, European integration, Georgian identity, Catholic missionaries