What is the nature of influence in Georgia and to are social movement organisations able to develop alternative networks of influence

随着格鲁吉亚在回归俄罗斯褶皱和向欧洲-大西洋褶皱发展之间的刀锋上取得平衡，本研究探讨了格鲁吉亚影响力的本质。特别是，它质疑社会运动组织在多大程度上能够在格鲁吉亚的混合民主中发展出另一种影响网络。研究表明，在格鲁吉亚的影响力通过流动和动态的结构流动：合作和竞争的影响力网络。占主导地位的影响力网络由精英驱动，维持着现状。在对这些主导网络的反击中，本研究调查了以公民社会为基础的价值驱动的替代影响力网络的出现。这篇论文涉及三个研究领域的交叉：战略传播、影响力和网络。战略沟通是一种从说服到胁迫的影响形式。它的核心是在动态的、有争议的环境中，基于价值观表达的长期话语的稳定。社会运动与战略传播在话语传播、分配和稳定方面相遇。从社会运动理论，通过网络理论，到新兴的战略传播理论，本研究产生了一个社会运动组织如何在竞争环境中发展替代影响网络的模型。

As Georgia balances on the knife-edge between regression into the Russian fold and progress toward the Euro-Atlantic fold, this research explores the nature of influence in Georgia. In particular, it questions the extent to which social movement organisations are able to develop alternative networks of influence in Georgia's hybrid democracy. The research suggests that influence in Georgia flows through fluid and dynamic structures: cooperating and competing networks of influence. Dominant networks of influence are elite-driven, sustaining the status quo. In the push-back against these dominant networks, this research investigates the emergence of value-driven alternative networks of influence, grounded in civil society. The thesis lies at the intersection of three fields of enquiry: Strategic Communications, influence, and networks. Strategic Communications is a form of influence operating on a spectrum ranging from persuasion to coercion. It is centred on the stabilisation of long-term discourses based on the articulation of values within dynamic, contested environments. Social movements meet Strategic Communications at the point of discourse dissemination,distribution, and stabilisation. Drawing a theoretical linefrom social movement theory, through network theory, towards emerging Strategic Communications theory, thisresearch produces a model of how social movementorganisations develop alternative networks of influence ina contested environment.