ABSTRACT
The problems of ethnicity, national minorities, and national self-determination are critical issues in the Caucasus today. Their activation in recent years can be linked to several factors, among them the compact settlement of minorities in the territories of the present republics of the Caucasus (in Georgia there are three autonomies) and the radicalization of national thinking and mentality. In full measure these issues are promoting the rise of centrifugal tendencies in some republics.
