Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between the Soviet legacy and the post-communist civil society in the Caucasus region. The key argument is that there are two main forms of former regime’s legacy that affect the development of civil society: institutional legacy, engraved in institutional norms and regulations, and individual legacy present in people’s attitudes and behaviours. Both forms of the former regime’s legacy have to be understood as a part of the process of civic continuity which ensures both the survival of old institutional customs and traditions and their continuous influence upon the regulations and norms guiding the present-day civil sector in the Caucasus.