Introduction

This chapter focuses on international conference convened in Tbilisi in 2009, to commemorate the first republic's ninetieth anniversary. It was the first conference since independence that focused specifically on the Despite the republic's historic significance for Georgians (DRG). The Western Allies belatedly recognized Georgia de jure on 27 January 1921, just two weeks before the Bolshevik invasion of Georgia began. Revaz Gachechiladze, in his contribution, refers to the changes in international norms, which provides some legal protections to sovereign Georgia in the twenty-first century. Alexander Rondeli, like Gachechiladze, agrees that both international norms and Russia have changed since the DRG. Natalie Sabanadze, in her contribution, declares that the DRG, far from undermining democracy and pluralism with its socialist policies, helped prevent the republic's early breakdown. The West's political realism frequently marginalizes Georgian claims for membership: examples were the League of Nations after World War I, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the 2000s.