Influence of National Identity on the Foreign Policy Orientation of Georgia

Abstract

The paper presents the factors influencing the formation and determination of Georgia's foreign policy orientation and specializes in the relationship between national identity and foreign policy. For Georgia, as a small and complex geopolitical state, foreign policy orientation is crucial for protecting and preserving the country's security, sovereignty, identity, territorial integrity, and independence.It should be noted that for any sovereign state, foreign policy is the most important means of realizing national interests. The correct foreign policy course ensures the fulfillment of national interests and the rightful place in the international system. Furthermore, it should be noted that for Georgia, as a small and weak country, the protection and preservation of sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity was a vitally important issue both after the collapse of the Soviet Union and nowadays. Accordingly, national interests are the main determining factor in the formation of the country's foreign policy orientation.Based on the above, the paper will focus on the role of national interests in the formation of Georgia's foreign policy and national identity. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the issue of security remained problematic for Georgia. In the 1990s, the foundation was laid for forming Georgia's foreign policy course, which was significantly influenced by national interests. Georgia's national interests serve to protect vital factors, and foreign policy is a means of achieving this goal.As we have already mentioned, the state's national interests determine foreign policy. However, during the analysis of the formation of foreign political orientation, such a factor as national identity should be considered. According to the theory of constructivism, national identity significantly impacts the state's foreign policy. Therefore, the subject of constructivism's study is the relationship between national identity and the state's foreign policy. Constructivism considers identity an empirical issue to be examined in a historical context. Historical experiences play a significant role in national identity formation; therefore, it is impossible to separate national identity from history. According to Ronald Grigor Suny (1994), the country's future lies in what people choose from its history "how it imagines itself as a community and continues to remake itself as a nation."Discussion of the relationship between foreign policy and national identity and the influence of national identity in the formation of foreign policy orientation is the primary and critical issue of the paper. The report will discuss and present alternative approaches and opinions and, among other things, To characterize the national identity of Georgia and justify the relevance of the issue of national identity. Thus, we will focus on the Western foreign policy orientation of the country. In addition, the paper will study other factors that influence the formation and determination of foreign policy orientation. In addition to the original discussion, the presented paper reviews the approaches and findings of well-known authors regarding the relationship between these two phenomena, national identity and foreign policy orientation. The approaches and opinions of Ted Hopf, Ilya Prizel, Rick Fawn, and other authors' approach and opinions regarding the dialectical relations between foreign policy and national identity will be explored. When forming foreign policy orientation, it is essential to take into account such issues as cultural and moral values, experience, etc. To understand the dynamics of foreign policy creation, assessing how the identity has developed and what new intellectual factors the polity has internalized is essential.According to Prizel (1995), a sense of nation and national identity plays a fundamental role in establishing a society's sensing of its environment. It is a very significant force formation of a state's foreign policy because national identity assists in defining the factors of what a polity reckons its national interests at home and abroad. A polity's national identity is very much a result of how it percepts its history - opinions and perceptions that collect over time and form a society's "collective memory."In discussing national identity, the thesis will review its formation and includes issues such as the structure of society, which consists of a social cognitive structure within which many discursive formations function. Identity constitutes these formations. Discursive formations and identity represent a social cognitive structure. According to the abovementioned, the task of the paper is to provide information on the following issues:- Determining factors of Georgia's foreign policy orientation (national identity, national interests, geographical location, etc.); - Justification of the influence of historical experience on the national identity of Georgia and reflection on foreign policy. To this end, among other things, the paper briefly reviews the framework of the relationship between national identity and foreign policy orientation - the theory of constructivism;- Discussing the relationship between national identity and Georgia's foreign policy during different periods of government (1992-2003; 2003-2012; 2012-2020) and making a comparative analysis;- Presenting the relevance of the paper based on the study of the Western foreign policy course as a critical issue of the country's foreign policy strategy and national security concept;- Discuss and assess Georgia's foreign policy orientation and alternatives (North, West, neutrality).