Stephen Jones is a Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, USA. He has studied Georgian politics and society for 30 years and has written over 80 articles and chapters on Georgia and the South Caucasus. His recent book Socialism in Georgian Colors: The European Road to Social Democracy, 1883-1917, was published by Harvard University Press in 2005. He is currently working on a book, Georgia: A Political Life, 1991-2007, to be published by I.B.Tauris, London.

This book takes a new approach to the August 2008 Russo-Georgian war, looking at the longue duree of Russian-Georgian relations as well as the domestic factors that, since independence and the Rose Revolution of 2003, provided the context for war.

This book was published as a special issue in Central Asian Survey.

1. Preface: Georgia on Everybody's Mind: The Aftermath of War Ronald Suny 2. Introduction: Georgia's Domestic Front Stephen Jones The Colonial Context 3. 'David and Goliath' and 'Georgians in the Kremlin': A post-colonial perspective on conflict in post-Soviet Georgia Laurence Broers 4. Managing Ethnic Diversity in Georgia: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back Jonathan Wheatley The Revolutionary State 5. The Dangers of Reform: State Building and National Minorities in Georgia Julie George 6. The August 2008 War in Georgia: From Ethnic Conflict to Border Wars Vicken Cheterian A Polarized Democracy 7. Compromising Democracy-State Building in Saakashvili's Georgia Lincoln Mitchell 8. Saakashvili in the Public Eye Nana Sumbadze The Post-Revolutionary Economy 9. Georgia's Economy: Post-revolutionary Development and Post-war Difficulties Vladimer Papava 10. Corruption and Organized Crime in Georgia before and after the 'Rose Revolution' Alexandre Kukhianidze An Alternative Perspective 11. The View from Abkhazia of South Ossetia Ablaze Paula Garb