"Passport Politics": Passportization and Territoriality in the De Facto States of Georgia
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Date
2011-06
Authors
Artman, Vincent M., 1981-
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
In 2002, the Russian government began distributing tens of thousands of Russian passports in the de facto states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Some scholarly attention has been devoted to this process, known as passportization, but most of the literature treats passportization as a primarily political process, ignoring its geographic aspects. This thesis shows that passportization in Abkhazia and South Ossetia amounted to a process of "biocolonization," wherein the populations of the de facto states were discursively captured by Russia through individual naturalization. Consequently, passportization served to create "Russian spaces" within the internationally recognized borders of Georgia and, in the process challenged international legal norms rooted in the logic of the modern state system.
Description
ix, 161 p. : maps
Keywords
Geography, Russian history, International relations, Biopolitics, Caucasus, Passports -- Russia (Federation), Abkhazia (Georgia), South Ossetia (Georgia)