<strong>Paper Title</strong><br>
The Deprivatization of Religion in Modern Georgia<br>
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<strong>Abstract</strong><br>
This paper is part of a broader study “The Shock of Publicity – Conflicting Public and Private Spheres in Georgian
Society”. Georgia is going through the painful process of transiting from totalitarian to democratic regimes. The study aims to
analyze the role that the Georgian Orthodox Church plays in this process, namely, whether the deprivatization of religion – i.e.
the presence of religion and its voice in the public sphere can be helpful to democracy. Basing our results on various types of
data – researches, in-depth interviews and press analysis, we claim that the deprivatization of religion ongoing in Georgia has
no implications to the process of democratization. This study will contribute to the understanding of the experiences of
transitory countries, in terms of studying the ground that democracy faces in young democracies.
Index Terms— Deprivatization of Religion, modernity, democratization.