Liminal States: The Viability of Self-Proclaimed Post-Soviet Republics

Self-proclaimed, unrecognised, partially recognised, de facto, pseudo-, para-, quasi-, phantom states: these are all names of entities that seem to exist de facto, but at the same time, they do not de jure. Among the most well-known examples are the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia (or Tskhinvali region) that seceded from Georgia in 1992, and the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (or Transnistria/Transdniestria), which became independent from Moldova as a result of the collapse of the USSR. Scholars have been studying such phenomena for decades. However, a particular concept is contingent upon the specific context of its creation, rendering it obsolete as circumstances inevitably evolve. Therefore, it is important to examine the defining characteristics of unrecognised states to analyse the structure of the emerging world order and their place within it. In order to do so, we must approach these formations as an enduring feature of political reality, rather than something transient and lacking agency. Looking through such lenses, this research aims to assess the viability and local support for the three above-mentioned post-Soviet quasi-states by responding to the question of how residents perceive their situation as shaped by the liminal nature of de-facto statehood. Various primary and secondary sources were utilised, including international legislation and agreements, national laws and statistical data, as well as monographs and research articles. Personal testimonies − 14 semi-structured interviews lasting from one to two hours with residents of the unrecognised states − contributed to a better understanding of the narratives circulating in public discourse and their reinterpretation by the population. Thus, the hypothesis that the entities under consideration do not simply represent a defective type of statehood (and in some cases, even stateness) was supported to a considerable extent by the findings, given their existence for more than thirty years and the tendency of locals to embrace the conditions of ‘in-betweenness’.