Statement of Purpose

Written by Ani Kakhidze (Application number 16024601)

For Master's Programme in Early Modern History - Uppsala University

A modern nation is based on an unbreakable bond between past, present, and future generations.
The experience of my country is quite different - the nation-building process was interrupted by
Soviet occupation, and our founders' visions of Georgia’s development were lost. Disconnection
with the recent past and a strong desire to restore the statecraft, which started forming almost 200
years ago, were the main reasons I was fascinated by the past, especially early modern history.
This passion became even more potent when at the university, I learned about Federalist Papers
and its historical context. Deep research of the period illustrated how participating in politics
enables imperfect individuals to transcend their limitations and discern. Moreover, It was pretty
clear that studying the history of the evolution of those state structures and institutions that have
been successfully functioning for several hundred years is the way to discover generations’
coherent answers to the questions that have troubled humanity since the beginning.
Therefore, I consider this study program as an excellent opportunity to continue exploring the
main foundations of successful modern states, and by investigating the history of the growth of
this basis and the social context that caused those historical changes, I hope to see more
pronounced - the absence of the modern liberal world.
The importance of considering historical context was best demonstrated by working at an online
media outlet - Tabula, where I mostly write about the election, American politics, and
developing democracies. Linking the dots between the political process and historical experience
gives you a whole different picture in which you can see the chain of actions. Something you
lack today might be caused by decisions made hundreds of years ago. Therefore, with my
friends, I decided to fix the deep alienation of generations, as discussed in the first paragraph; it
was crucial to see the whole picture and start learning about building the Georgian nation from
its roots. With this interest, we created a podcast - De Re Publica, which is about the first
republic of Georgia and researches Georgians' late experience of enlightenment and its effects on
society. To expand our study area, we established Studia Georgica - a research and educational
organization of Georgia's history, political thought, and culture.
By examining the past and representing it to the public, the team of Studia Georgica aims to find
solutions to our current problems as a new young state. Nevertheless, our country is not alone:
states with rich democratic traditions also experience issues that may be different but could be
caused by the same problem - forgetting historical foundations. One example of this - the crisis
of liberalism, was the main interest of my BA thesis: In my paper, I discussed the need for
Aristotelian ethics in the political sphere to protect freedom and equality. However, many
questions about the relationship between the citizen and the state, and its evolution, remained
open to me. Answers to those queries may be hidden in early modern history, and the program,
for me will be a great way to discover them.