The Language of Giving: Ethnic and Distributive Politics in Georgia’s Kvemo Kartli Region

• In Event: Subnational Politics and Identity in the Post-Soviet States

Abstract

This paper utilizes mixed-methods research to explore the links between ethnic and distributive politics in the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia. Analysis of survey data, interviews, and focus groups in a context with a large Azerbaijani minority assess determinants of residents’ ability to demand and receive public goods. The primary factors that are explored are Georgian language capacity, integration into informal networks, and provision by an ethnic kin state, specifically Azerbajan.

Author

• Kyle Estes, Bradley U