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Teka Commission of Legal Sciences Polish Academy of Sciences Branch in Lublin

Vol. 19 No. 1 (2026)

Articles

Church–State Relations in Georgia and Armenia and the Impact of this Relationship on the Process of Democratization

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32084/tkp.10724  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2026-06-30

Abstract

The aim of the present article is to compare church–state relations in Georgia and Armenia and to demonstrate the influence of this relationship upon the process of democratisation. To this end, the article identifies seven principal spheres of public life in which these relationships manifest themselves. These spheres are: 1) the legislative framework; 2) the political-cultural environment; 3) the educational policy of the churches; 4) the context of religious consciousness and cultural identity markers; 5) social and civic activism; 6) foreign policy orientation as a force of normative attraction; and 7) the influence of the diaspora as a determining factor of internal social pluralism. Beyond demonstrating the similarities and differences between the processes unfolding in the two countries, the article also specifies the positive and negative dimensions deriving from these relationships upon the process of democratisation – a process characterised by non-linearity and encountering constant resistance. However, notwithstanding the ambiguous and complex character of the democratisation process in both countries, it is not sterily demarcated from the other, and by virtue of their immediate geographical proximity and cultural-social affinity they exert mutual influence upon one another. It is for this reason that, on the basis of the present analysis, the article endeavours to demonstrate wherein the factor of mutual influence resides and where it may be discerned.

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