| 1. |
- Berglund, Christofer, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Feckless Pluralism
- 2017
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Ingår i: The SAGE Encyclopedia of Political Behavior. - Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications. - 9781483391168 ; , s. 295-296
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Feckless pluralism refers to political systems that fall short of democratic standards, but contain contested elections and alternation of power between different political groups. It is a form of government that is neither democratic nor autocratic. Hybrid regimes of this sort caught the attention of political scientists in the wake of the third wave of democratisation, as a number of countries in Eurasia, Africa and Latin America seemingly got stuck along the road towards democracy. Some political regimes in the grey zone between democracy and autocracy are referred to as dominant power politics systems. This entry introduces Thomas Carothers’ concept of feckless pluralism and its relation to the wider notion of hybrid regimes.
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| 2. |
- Berglund, Christofer, PhD, Docent, 1985-
(författare)
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Accepting Alien Rule? State-Building Nationalism in Georgia's Azeri Borderland
- 2022. - 1
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Ingår i: Post-Soviet Conflict Potentials. - Abingdon : Routledge. - 9781003304920 ; , s. 113-135
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- How did ethnic Azeris in the Marneuli, Bolnisi and Dmanisi districts, located inside Georgia but bordering Azerbaijan, react to the reorganisation of political space along national lines after the Soviet Union’s dissolution? ‘Beached’ in foreign states bent on nationalising their domains, minorities throughout Eurasia sometimes rejected and sometimes accepted their alien rulers. This essay examines reactions to this predicament among Georgia’s Azeris. Drawing on elite interviews and data from a matched-guise experiment, it concludes that locals have come to accept their host state after its state-building nationalism took an inclusive turn and the distinction between aliens and natives faded.
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| 3. |
- Berglund, Christofer, 1985-
(författare)
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At the Crossroads : Georgia Between Dominant-Power Politics, Feckless Pluralism and Democracy
- 2013
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This article charts the last decade of Georgian politics through theories of semi-authoritarianism and democratization. I first dissect Saakashvili’s system of "dominant-power politics", which enabled state-building reforms, yet also atrophied political competition. I then analyze the "nested two-level game" between incumbents and opposition in the run-up to the 2012 parliamentary elections. After recounting the outcome of election day, I examine the Darwinian cohabitation that next pushed Georgia in the direction of "feckless pluralism". With presidential elections and a new constitution looming, protagonists must cease using state institutions for partisan purposes in order to set Georgia on a democratic trajectory.
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| 4. |
- Berglund, Christofer, 1985-
(författare)
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Borders and Belonging : Nation-Building in Georgia's Armenian and Azerbaijani Ethno-Regions, 2004–2012
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Since the fall of the Soviet Union, scholars researching ethnic politics have approached the South Caucasus as a testing ground for theories of separatism and conflict. But the 2003 Rose Revolution brought a new generation of politicians to power in Georgia. President Mikheil Saakashvili distanced himself from the ethnic nationalism of the past, which had poisoned relations between Georgians and their Armenian and Azerbaijani compatriots. The incoming authorities instead sought to foster an inclusive nationalism, wherein belonging hinged on speaking the state language and all Georgian-speakers, regardless of origin, were to be equals.This thesis investigates this nation-building project and its influence on the integration of Georgia's Armenian and Azerbaijani borderlands. I first examine the mode through which these peripheries were incorporated into post-Soviet Georgia. Since Armenians controlled "their own" domain to a greater extent than the Azerbaijanis, I infer that the former were absorbed along integralist and the latter along colonial lines. Moving to the time-period after the Rose Revolution, I next explore if Georgian officials and Georgian adolescents were tolerant towards Georgian-speaking minorities. With the help of elite interviews and a socio-linguistic experiment (n = 792), I reveal that officials and adolescents were open to integrated Armenians and Azerbaijanis alike. I then proceed to inspect the centre's nationalising agencies and their efforts to incentivise minorities to interact with Georgians, and to use the state language during these contacts. Last but not least, I turn to the reactions this nation-building project elicited in the borderlands. On the basis of interviews with local elites and a socio-linguistic experiment involving Armenian and Azerbaijani adolescents (n = 434; n = 483), I discovered sharp differences: Armenians reacted with defiance and Azerbaijanis with compliance.These findings augment our knowledge of ethno-linguistic stereotypes in the Caucasus. They also demonstrate that inclusive nation-building projects can inspire minorities to integrate – despite adverse circumstances – but hint at one condition conducive to this end. Armenians perceived the state language as a battering ram against "their own" domain, while Azerbaijanis saw it as a tool to escape their isolation. This within-country comparison suggests that similar nation-building projects can trigger different reactions in integralist and colonial borderlands.
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| 5. |
- Berglund, Christofer, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Combating Money Laundering in Eurasia : Lessons from Kyrgyzstan and Georgia
- 2008
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Ingår i: China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly. - 1653-4212. ; 6:3, s. 21-44
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Anti-money laundering (AML) policies are instrumental both in combating organized crime and political corruption and in promoting financial transparency and economic growth. This article provides an overview of AML efforts in Eurasia, with a particular focus on Central Asia and the South Caucasus. De facto achievements in the fight against money laundering often lag behind legal frameworks and AML regulations are sometimes misused as political tools. Within their respective regions, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia stand out as the most successful countries. Kyrgyzstan has adopted AML regulations but has not taken many steps towards enforcing them. Individual banks, however, may implement AML regulations more quickly than national regulators to gain a competitive advantage. Following the Rose Revolution, Georgia adopted and began to actively enforce AML regulations. Tbilisi’s AML progress is linked to political will stemming from a unique set of domestic and foreign policy considerations.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Berglund, Christofer, 1985-
(författare)
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Demokratisering och dess gränser : etnopolitik, exit och voice i Georgiens kortslutna transition
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nordisk Østforum. - 0801-7220 .- 1891-1773. ; 24:1, s. 7-34
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article aims to highlight and problematise the boundaries of democratisation, with Georgia's troubled transition as empirical point of reference. The argument proceeds from the established idea that democratisation requires a demos, the presence of which provides the state undergoing transition with horizontal legitimacy. However, there are no good ways to decide where or how to draw the boundaries of democratisation in ethnopolitically contested states. Transitions occurring under such circumstances tend to be short-circuited. No nation wishes to be subjugated to the will of another nation within a state owned by another nation. Whether conflicts over the boundaries of democratisation are resolved to the satisfaction of the majority or minority depends to a significant degree - but by no means exclusively - on the vertical legitimacy of the host state. Depending on whether the relationship between the majority population and the state institutions is characterised by distrust or trust, the host state will be either weak or strong, and hence have low or high ability to contain resentful minorities. The article argues that between 1991 and 2003, Georgia was characterised by low vertical legitimacy, whereas since 2004, the state has acquired higher vertical legitimacy.
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| 8. |
- Berglund, Christofer, PhD, Docent, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Fighting for the (Step)motherland? Predictors of Defense Willingness in Estonia’s Post-Soviet Generation
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Political & Military Sociology. - : University of Florida. - 0047-2697 .- 2642-2190. ; 49:2, s. 146-169
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- What makes individuals willing to defend their (adopted) homeland as their own? This is an essential question for all diverse societies. We turn to the case of Estonia, which inherited a sizable Russian-speaking population after the fall of the Soviet Union. Using recent polling data, we test demographic and attitudinal predictors of defense willingness among the first generation of males that have been raised in the republic since the restoration of independence. The results enable us to unpack differences between Estonian-speakers and Russian-speakers, as well as disagreements among the latter, which shed light on the state of social cohesion in Estonia’s national fabric.
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| 9. |
- Berglund, Christofer, 1985-
(författare)
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“Forward to David the Builder!” : Georgia's (re)turn to language-centered nationalism
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nationalities Papers. - : Cambridge University Press (CUP). - 0090-5992 .- 1465-3923. ; 44:4, s. 522-542
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- After the Rose Revolution, President Saakashvili tried to move away from the exclusionary nationalism of the past, which had poisoned relations between Georgians and their Armenian and Azerbaijani compatriots. His government instead sought to foster an inclusionary nationalism, wherein belonging was contingent upon speaking the state language and all Georgian speakers, irrespective of origin, were to be equals. This article examines this nation-building project from a top-down and bottom-up lens. I first argue that state officials took rigorous steps to signal that Georgian-speaking minorities were part of the national fabric, but failed to abolish religious and historical barriers to their inclusion. I next utilize a large-scale, matched-guise experiment (n = 792) to explore if adolescent Georgians ostracize Georgian-speaking minorities or embrace them as their peers. I find that the upcoming generation of Georgians harbor attitudes in line with Saakashvili's language-centered nationalism, and that current Georgian nationalism therefore is more inclusionary than previous research, or Georgia's tumultuous past, would lead us to believe.
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