NEW RUSSIAN IMPERIALISM AND GEORGIA: VIOLENT SPATIAL PRACTICES, DISRUPTED PLACES, AND DESTABILIZED SPACES

Abstract

Places are necessary prerequisites for human life. Humans always identify themselves with certain places which, in turn, have strong influence on humans’ individual and collective identities even when this influence is not explicitly acknowledged. The author of the article argues that Russia’s new imperialism rests on systematic violent spatial practices, which disrupt places and destabilize spaces in the neighbouring countries. These violent spatial practices constitute what can be called “colonization of everyday space” which disrupts place-ballet and fundamental feeling of security which humans associate with their everyday places, thereby producing anxiety, fear, and suffering.