Proving the 'European Way': The West in Georgian Far-Right Discourse

Abstract

Analysing the broad far-right discourse in Georgia over two periods (the late 1980s and 2015-2020), the article draws on the main trends in articulating the idea of 'Europe' and offers the explanatory frameworks behind varying perceptions as well as their instrumental conceptualisations. The analysis argues that the somewhat idealised vision of 'the West', in earlier times representing the sole legitimate alternative to the Soviet system, has nowadays transformed into a novel construction concerning different, Manichean faces of Europe, only one of which is 'acceptable' for the contemporary far-right. Finally, the article offers several contextual schemata through which these similarities and transformations could be explained: expanded informational as well as relational engagement with European countries and structures, the resurgence of diffusing national-populist narratives across Europe, and the overarching positive connotation of the Occident in the country. Thus, the article offers a brief insight into the Georgian case, which displays the contested inclusion of the idea of Europe in far-right's mobilisation strategies.