Ethno-religious Nationalism and the Extended Index of Populism on the Example of Adjara, Tbilisi and Samegrelo

Abstract

Abstract The article explores populist sentiments in two regions of Georgia and in the capital Tbilisi. The analysis is based on a representative survey conducted in November 2019 with the active participation of the authors of the article. The survey and its statistical analysis confirm that populist sentiments in the surveyed population are widespread. However, not only the prevalence of this phenomenon has been studied, but also its nature, which carries strong ethno-religious and ultra-conservative characteristics. Strong ethno-religious sentiments are confirmed by low acceptance of Muslim Georgians (despite the fact that ethnic Georgians constitute vast majority of surveyed population), rock-bottom trust in democratic state institutions coupled with very high, sometimes exclusive, trust in the Church, as well as strong anti-secular sentiments and high self-esteem. In addition, the article contains the ExtendedIndexof Populism, which is based upon strictly selectedvariables, and a correlation analysis of this index in terms of age, economic status, urban vs. rural habitat and educational criteria.Keywords: populism, ethno-religious nationalism, ultra-conservatism, traditional values.