The Origins of the 2008 Georgian-Russian War
The Origins of the 2008 Georgian-Russian War

Summary/Abstract: This short study explores the causes of the short but intense Georgian-Russian war in the summer of 2008. The author skillfully uses several potent theories and notorious authors (mainly Hans J. Morgenthau and Kenneth Waltz) in the areas of International Relations and Strategic Studies in order to better understand the way in which one of the frozen conflicts in the Black Sea area quickly escalated to the level of open war. The final conclusion is that, in spite of the fact that system-level theories are more solid than the other two images present in thinking patterns of Kenneth Waltz, “it must not be assumed that one single image can accurately explain the 2008 Georgia-Russia war”. That is why the author clearly states that a combination of several levels of analysis, comparing and contrasting various theories, is most likely to provide a really comprehensive explanation of the causes of the 2008 Russo-Georgian war.

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