Georgia: On Citizenship and Territorial Integrity

I have been following the events that unfolded in Georgia last week, as I know very little about Georgia and its problem with Russia. I read with interest a piece that appeared in today’s Washington Post, providing a description of the role the players played as events unfolded: Georgia’s Saakashvili’s grab for Tskhinvali in his desire to restore Georgia’s traditional borders, which the author deemed as a mistake; Russia’s support for the right of Ossetian self-determination, and its real goal of reasserting Russian influence in that part of the world; and the US sending mixed signals to Georgia while paying little attention to Russian concerns in the region and beyond.

If one comes up close, however (that is, putting international relations framework of thinking aside), it seems that the question to ask is this: what do you do to a people who live within the geographical limits of a country and yet do not want to pay allegiance to it? What does citizenship entail? How does a country preserve its territorial integrity against citizens who want to secede from it?

Citizenship entails duties, obligations, and allegiances. Preserving territorial integrity entails defending one’s territory from foreign invaders. People living in those two breakaway provinces of Georgia must understand the duties and obligations of citizenship. They can leave if they don’t want to be part of it, but they can’t take the land with them.

Of course, in a republican setting the remedy is readily available: allowing the majority to rule while ensuring the rights of the minority.