Georgia's Europeanization: Performative Games and Peculiarities of "Enforced Socialization"

This article discusses elite and popular discourses on Europeanization in Georgia from the sociological perspective, focusing on the "usage" of Europeanization. While even ruling party representatives consider conditionality the main driver of Georgia's Europeanization, they simultaneously claim that it is not EU demands but Georgia's own aspirations that are driving the country's modernization.The discourse on the country's "mental modernization" is especially noteworthy, being viewed by both elites and the population in light of Developmental Idealism. Such a duality reveals research participants' perception that external demands and internal motivation are closely intertwined, highlighting the role of "enforced socialization": they view conditionality and socialization as complementary processes and believe that enforcement should encourage social learning. However, as discourses of enforced socialization coexist with those of selective Europeanization, they sound rather performative.