On March 10, as part of the Noontime Scholars Lecture series, Eteri Tsintsadze-Maass presented a talk on balance of power theory entitled “Why Weak States Balance: National Mobilization and Georgia’s Post-Cold War Security Strategy.” A Ph.D. candidate in political science from the University of Kentucky, specializing in international relations and comparative politics, Tsintsadze-Maass’s dissertation work “aims to explain variations among newly independent states’ security strategies towards their former ruler, focusing on the 14 weaker post-Soviet states’ differing security strategies towards Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.” This presentation centered on the Republic of Georgia, examining the atypical behavior of a smaller, weaker state choosing to work at odds with its larger, more powerful neighbor, the Russian Federation, when many other post-socialist states chose to go the other route of bandwagoning.

Having engaged with several theories (realism, liberalism, cultural-similarity theory), Tsintsadze-Maass demonstrated how a long history of nationalism and national mobilization encouraged such a move towards balancing.  Tsintsadze-Maass located multiple sites of a shared identity, such as religion, multiple cases of resistance during Russian Imperialist rule and later during Soviet rule, as well as Georgia’s own history of independent kingdoms, and effectively argued that the narratives for an independent national identity is one that never seemed to cease. She demonstrated that these sites created an atmosphere of nationalism based on a centralized collective identity that was unlikely to lead towards a stance of bandwagoning with a power that had consistently presented itself as a threat.

Tsintsadze-Maass’s work is important as it is an interdisciplinary project. While focusing on balance of power theory, her project is also one that is related to Foucauldian biopower discussions. In her talk, she discussed how Georgia, as well as other post-socialist states like Ukraine, has consistently been the target of Russian “punishment.” For example, as Georgia looked westward after the collapse of the Soviet Union and came closer to becoming a NATO state, they were “punished” via armed conflict for a seemingly unrelated thing (the August War in response to South Ossetia). This interdisciplinary nature allows her project to contribute to multiple fields in a useful way as it raises other important questions regarding the influence of neighboring polities on the mobility of the nation.

Due to current global events (the COVID-19 pandemic), the audience was smaller, which allowed for a more relaxed presentation that facilitated a more thorough examination of some of the ideas surrounding collective identity and national mobilization, particularly in terms of the transition from Soviet to post-Soviet status. Overall, Eteri Tsintsadze-Maass provided an engaging and thought-provoking presentation that encouraged participants to explore new questions in their own work and to consider the nature of national identity as it relates to geopolitical power relationships. While geopolitics is not an under-explored topic of interest, Tsintsadze-Maass inserts a breath of fresh air into the discussion.

By Justin Balcor

Justin Balcor is a Ph.D. student in Musicology and FLAS Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His doctoral work focuses on instrument-making and national identity in the Republic of Georgia.