Forms of Territorial-Political Self-Organization of the Abkhaz in the 18th –19th Centuries

Abstract

The article discusses the forms and principles of self-organization of people in the traditional Abkhaz society during the last period of its development in the 18th-19th centuries. The goal of the article is to argue that the main form of self-organization consisted in the associations of neighbor village communities. At its core there lay the principle of profound interdependence of social strata, which functioned as a mechanism controlling relationships between various social forces. This particular form of self-organization, being an alternative to hierarchical state institutions, carried a more universal structure and set of functions, as compared to either the kin or feudal peasant community