Abkhazia is one of the post-Soviet, unrecognized de facto entities. Since gaining independence, Abkhazian internal politics has been determined by both balance and conflicts between the two main clans. The paper deals with the problem of Abkhazian political life in the light of clans’ activity. First, the author distinguishes three periods in the political history of contemporary Abkhazia. The further part of the paper goes on to describe its consecutive periods.
The article revisits the issue of the political functionality and social organization in Caucasian de facto entities. Basing on theoretical approaches regarding the phenomenon of unrecognized states, the paper examines cases of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) with the focus on internal and external factors, including historical legacy, system of power, weakness of the mother state as well as support of the metropolitan state. It concludes that de facto entities demonstrate the vitality of their societies and political maturity, but their future depends mostly on international politics.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.