Russia’s Failure as a Benign Hegemon: The Domination of Hobbesian Culture in the 2008 Russo-Georgian War

This paper aims to explain the advent of the 2008 Russo-Georgian war. It is an important question to answer due to the historical, cultural, and economic relations between the two states, as well as Russia’s aspiration as a benign hegemon should have prevented the war from happening. The fact that two closely related ex-Soviet states went to war against each other points to a fundamental problem in their relationship that could happen to other states with similar preconditions, such as Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, and more. In order to address this issue, Wendtian Constructivism is used to analyse the social interaction, key events, and the culture of anarchy that led to open warfare. This paper mainly relies on official documents and previous research as the primary sources, using news and media coverage to validate truths and opinions on key events. Based on that, this paper finds that: 1) social interaction between the two states was consistent with the Hobbesian culture of anarchy; 2) Russia’s aspiration as a benign hegemon failed to reproduce itself due to rejection from Georgia and their success in balancing Russia with the U.S., giving Georgia the capabilities to resist Russian narratives; 3) Georgia’s confrontative behaviours led to reciprocal actions from Russia, and; 4) the Georgian offensive on Tskhinvali was the trigger that confirmed the suspicions from both sides, making both countries decision to be based on the logic of enmity.


INTRODUCTION
Russia portrayed itself as a benign hegemon in post-Soviet territories by engaging in cooperative relations with its neighbouring states, including Georgia (Dutkiewicz & Trenin, 2011). This occurred based on strong cultural relations and the development of interdependence among states in this region. However, Georgia interpreted Russia's efforts differently. Therefore, Georgia requested help from the West by approaching the United States (U.S.), attempting to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), displayed a confrontative posture against Russia by increasing its military budget, and denounced the deployment of Russian peacekeeping forces in the Georgia-Abkhazia and Georgia-South Ossetia borders. These measures led to a war between these two states, starting from 7 to 12 August 2008.
The war witnessed Russia's victory over Georgia, the perpetrator of the war, while Georgia justified its action to respond to Russia's military presence in South Ossetia, which allegedly would attack Georgia. The European Union's (EU) Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia (IIFFMCG) concluded that Georgia initiated the war. However, Russia's counteroffensive operation to Georgia's territory, which further caused the conflict to expand, should also be accounted for (European Court of Human Rights, 2009). These findings prompted an important inquiry on the then-existing condition in the Caucasus region-why could states with strong cultural and economic relations, and despite Russia's aspiration as a benign hegemon in the former Soviet Union's territories, be at war.
Russia's aspiration to become a benign great power had been displayed during Vladimir Putin's leadership upon the basis of political, economic, geographical, and cultural stabilities (Tsygankov, 2016). Russia experienced political stability and positive economic growth due to rising gas and oil prices, which later became essential commodities. At the regional level, Russia developed the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) project, intended to maintain trade flows which were threatened by changes to borders between states formerly located in the Soviet Union. As time went by, Russia enhanced said cooperation and provided opportunities for former Soviet states to join and improve their bargaining power vis-à-vis the EU. Within the security sector, Russia established the Collective Treaty Security Organisation (CSTO) to facilitate collective responses among its members against threats across multiple borders, especially after the military was disintegrated in former Soviet states.
Russia's portrayal as a benign hegemon has also been channelled through its soft power. In 2007, Russia established the Russkiy Mir Foundation to promote a "Russian World" notion. This cultural idea was derived from cultural ties represented by the Russian language and Orthodox Christianity (Feklyunina, 2016). This effort was built upon cultural similarities between former Soviet states to enhance cooperation between states and relations between societies. Russia put forward the "Greater Europe" vision to justify its initiatives. Such a vision viewed Europe as a multicultural continent that stretched from Lisbon to Vladivostok (Sakwa, 2015;Trenin, 2016). This vision was employed to construct an image for Russia as a good neighbour for Western European and other former Soviet states. The vision did not represent a renewed imperial ambition for Russia, but it became a part of a greater project for European integration. The "Greater Europe" vision put cultures from Central and Eastern Europe as distinct, but equal, cultures from that of Western Europe and held the purpose of uniting the European continent upon the basis of these differences. Russia's support for the Organisation of Security and Co-operation for Europe (OSCE) was driven by that vision.
These conditions were supposed to push Georgia and Russia to form a positive relation. The Georgian and Russian markets were highly connected within the economic sector, and both maintained good political relations. It was shown through Russia's support for Edward Shevardnadze in winning the Georgian civil war and preventing the ethnic war between Abkhazia and South Ossetia. However, due to Russia's power preponderance, Georgia sought to improve its position against Russia. This was evident in Georgia's efforts to approach NATO, EU, and the U.S. (Stent, 2014). Russia was blamed for the emergence of de facto independent territories, namely Abkhazia and South Ossetia (Nilsson, 2019).
Tendencies towards friction among both states increased following the Rose Revolution in 2003, a peaceful coup that replaced Shevardnadze with Mikhail Saakashvili as the then-new President of Georgia (Toal, 2017). During this phase, Georgia raised its military budget from 1% to 8-9% out of its total GDP (World Bank, 2020). Georgia also brought itself closer to the U.S., as it became the first state to support the U.S. Iraqi invasion and intensified military cooperation with the U.S. Moreover, Georgia was determined to reintegrate its de facto independent territories with every possible means, even threatening military operations if those territories aspired for independence. These tendencies caused more confrontations with Russia along Georgia's border and lead to the Russo-Georgian War on 7 August 2008. This war was the first war that occurred in the European continent after the Second World War.
Regarding the Russo-Georgian War, the dynamics of the relationship between the two states garnered attention and became central to debates among academics. Their general views could be grouped into those who blamed Georgia on the one hand and Russia on the other hand. Bobo Lo (2015) depicted Russia as a post-modern empire.
Albeit not having any physical imperial border, Russia was deemed to possess characteristics of an imperial power. The war between Russia and Georgia was provoked by Russia's rejection of Georgia's status as an independent, sovereign state. Studies by experts published in an edited volume titled The Guns of (Cornell & Svante, 2009) supported Lo's study. Russia's manoeuvres against Georgia were perceived as imperial attempts to maintain control over a state which was formerly a part of the Soviet Union. Georgia was at fault for being provoked by Russia and provided Russia with the opportunity to justify its response.
A contrasting view was conveyed by Tsygankov (2016) in his book titled Russia's Foreign Policy: Change and Continuity in National Identity and in an article titled "Duelling Honors: Power, Identity and the Russia-Georgia Divide" (Tsygankov & Tarver-Wahlquist, 2009 Sakwa (2015) added a contextual insight to the debate through a parallel comparison between the Russia-Georgia and Russia-Ukraine conflicts. Sakwa pointed out differences in narratives between those perpetrated by Ukraine and Russia, as well as between those by Georgia and Russia. Differences in perspectives on 'Europe' served as a point of departure in these conflicts. Russia's perspective on a 'greater Europe' was in conflict with the 'Atlanticism' perspective, which rejected pluralism in Europe and deemed Russia as having characteristics of a revisionist power. Georgia employed the latter understanding, which denied every regional initiative by Russia and pushed for integration with Western Europe and a closer relationship with the U.S. Several shortcomings were present in these studies. First, they tended to minimise Georgia's role as an independent actor and simplify the conflict by situating it against the backdrop of Russia's rivalry with the West. Second, past studies were more inclined to blame Russia or justify Russia's actions while failing to scrutinise the dynamics of Russo-Georgia relations. Henceforth, this study puts the same weight on Russia and Georgia as actors during the 2008 war, focusing on the social process that both actors experienced.
This research employs a constructivist perspective, especially that of Alexander Wendt, and is intended to connect conclusions achieved by past research. This study's focus on social interactions and the dominance of cultures of anarchy between the two actors will support the arguments of those who deemed Georgia to be at fault for the war without omitting Russia's faults.
Therefore, considering the contradiction between Russia's vision as a benign hegemon and the Russo-Georgia relations, as well as referring to debates among experts on Russia's revisionist/imperialists inclinations and its tendencies as a great power, this article inquires "why did Russia's aspirations of a benign hegemony lead to an open war between Russia and Georgia?" This study utilises a constructivist approach proposed by Wendt, which highlights how social interactions and cultures of anarchy are codetermined and mutually constitutive. This study argues that the dominance of a Hobbesian culture of anarchy between Russia and Georgia thwarted Russia's identity as a benign great power and pushed both states to adopt a logic of conflict.
To provide a clear explanation on the Russo-Georgian war and enhance this study's main argument, this article's temporal scope will be limited to [2003][2004][2005][2006][2007][2008]. The main focus of the research are Russia and Georgia. The U.S.'s involvement will be presented from Georgia's perspective, not as an actor on its own nor a third-party power that actively pitted Russia and Georgia against each other.

ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK
Alexander Wendt (1999)  Wendtian Constructivism analysis is built upon the basis of macro-and microlevel structures (Wendt, 1999). The micro-level structure pertains to social interactions between an actor, with ideas and identities that revolve around themselves, other actors, and their environments. Said interactions form intersubjective understandings which serve as the basis of the formation of the culture of anarchy among actors at the macro level. Meanwhile, the macro-level structure pertains to the culture of anarchy among actors. Its occurrence is determined by the behaviours of actors which form the structure.
These cultures make certain behaviours more logical than others. Macro-and micro-level structures are co-determined and mutually constitutive. Hence, anarchy is deemed as a self-fulfilling prophecy (Wendt, 1992).
Then, it is assumed that actors' identities form their respective interests. Wendt (1999) states that interests can be differentiated into objective and subjective interests.
Objective interests are defined as interests that must be achieved to maintain the actor's identity, although said interests may still exist unbeknownst to the actor. Meanwhile, subjective interests are those which the actor perceives must be achieved to maintain their identity; thus, the actor is always aware of their subjective interests. The accumulation of all interests of a particular state actor, derived from all of their identities, then forms national interests. Wendt views national interests as "pre-social." Therefore, national interests can change due to social interactions. Wendt (1999) identifies four national interests: physical survival, autonomy, economic well-being, and collective self-esteem.
On the other hand, identity is formed through interactions and social learning.
Identity can be learned, enhanced, and weakened through interactions between the Self and the Other (Wendt, 1999). Certain actors, defined as the Significant Other, can inflict greater consequences in comparison to other actors. Identity changes can only succeed when the Other displays an acceptable response to the Self's new behaviours.
Moreover, social interactions can be divided into four recurring phases. First, the Self defines their environment and behaves following their understanding. Second, the Other will process the Self's behaviour through the lenses of their understanding. The Other may or may not fully comprehend the Self's behaviour. There is no guarantee that the Self's behaviour delivers its intention to the Other. Third, referring to the Other's understanding the Self's behaviour, the Other will display response in reply. Fourth, the Self will process the Other's responses in a process similar to the Other's attempts to process responses from the Self. Both actors will constantly be involved in social interactions and social learning through these phases (Wendt, 1992). Changes in these interactions will change each actor's identities and interests and, thus, change the culture of anarchy (Wendt, 1999).
Wendt identifies three cultures of anarchy to explain the system: the Hobbesian culture to explain enmity, the Lockean culture to explain rivalry/competition, and the Kantian culture to explain friendship. Cultures of anarchy guide the roles of states within the system. These roles affect the actor's behaviours, leading them to align with the existing logic. Should these behaviours align with the existing culture, the system will be strengthened, while behaviours that are not aligned will weaken the system.
The Hobbesian culture is based upon the logic of enmity, in which states possess the roles of enemies of each other (Wendt, 1999). Wendt asserts that the enemy is the Other who does not acknowledge the Self's rights as an independent entity and will opt for violence to achieve their goals. Objective realities will not be needed to portray the Other as the enemy, so long as the Self believes so. This culture results in four actions.
First, actors will imitate the enemy's responses if their capabilities allow. Second, the actors' logic will be based on the worst scenario possible. Third, relative military capabilities will be seen as a crucial factor. Fourth, if war occurs, actors will attempt to demolish the enemy if possible, or cripple the enemy for as long as possible.
The Lockean culture follows the logic of rivalry/competition. Wendt (1999) argues that this culture is the most likely to occur in the modern world. Rivalry occurs when actors acknowledge the presence and rights of other actors, although they will compete to achieve their respective interests. Contrary to the logic of enmity, actors will restrain themselves from violence if possible. This culture emphasises specific measures.
First, the responses of each actor will be limited by the other actor's acknowledgment of their sovereignty. Second, actors will opt for long-term thinking. Third, military capabilities are present not to win wars but to maintain the balance of threat. Fourth, if war occurs, actors will practice restraint.
The Kantian culture is represented by the logic of friendship (Wendt, 1999).
Actors will treat other actors as friends, not as rivals nor enemies. This logic will allow all conflicts among actors to be resolved peacefully. Actors will also protect each other from external threats. Wendt suggests that this culture is rather novel as peace has only started to emerge and states routinely cooperate.
The culture of anarchy is a constantly recurring process, and its occurrence is  Referring to Figure 1, it is evident that changes to the culture of anarchy are possible, although it is unlikely to be realised. Behaviours of the actors are determined by their identities and interests and are affected by the dominant culture of anarchy in the system. Actors may change their identities and behaviours, yet responses from the other actor are based on anarchy's existing culture. Henceforth, identity changes will not automatically lead to structural changes, but structural changes will certainly entail identity changes.
Therefore, Wendt's perspective on Constructivism explains international phenomena through the dominant culture of anarchy in relations between actors. Cultures of anarchy guide the actors' behaviours towards specific tendencies-friendship, rivalry, or enmity. Cultures of anarchy, despite being reversible, are characterised as "homeostatic," thus, changes will not occur without being preceded by a long process or an extraordinary phenomenon. To change the culture of anarchy, changes to the identities of state actors are needed. These changes alter the pattern of social interactions, which forms the new culture of anarchy. However, if other actors, such as the Significant Other, resist the change, the culture of anarchy will not change. Exceptions may apply when an actor, whose identity changes, is disproportionately more powerful than other actors and force other actors to follow its narratives. Thus, changes to an actor's identity might not change the culture of anarchy, but changes to the actors' identities will initiate all changes to the culture of anarchy. International phenomena result from social interactions based upon the actors' identities and guided by cultures of anarchy.

RESEARCH METHOD
This study explains the war between Russia and Georgia as a case study by employing the analytical framework detailed above. The Russo-Georgian war becomes significant due to its relevance to the conflicts in Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh in 2014 and 2020, respectively. Occurrences of open wars in former Soviet Union territories point to the importance of a profound understanding of these territories by policymakers and experts.
The Russo-Georgian conflict has concluded, but it was deeply related to the recent cases.
Therefore, an in-depth understanding of the root causes will help researchers and policy makers in conflict resolution efforts in Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh and prevent future conflicts in Eastern Europe. Data contained in this study are sourced from official documents from relevant states and international institutions, along with past studies by experts. News and interviews are also used to verify facts and opinions on the conflict.
All sources are obtained from the internet.

Russia"
Russia's aspiration to become a great power was based on internal and external factors.
The internal factor was related to the Russian people's belief in its role in international politics. Russia's material power and history supported this belief. Every form of Russia that has existed in the past, such as the Kingdom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union, all had a major role in global politics in their respective times. Russia's geographic condition, located between two continents with its natural resources, also strengthened its position as a great power. Concerning its external factor, the marginalisation which Russia experienced mainly drove its aspiration to be recognised as one of the world's great powers. Other than that, the revitalisation of domestic power in Vladimir Putin's reign also allowed Russia to revive its aspiration (Leichtova, 2014).
These factors influenced how Russia saw itself and reaffirmed its identity as a "In general, we need to admit that we did not fully understand the complexity and the dangers of the processes at work in our own country and in the world.
In any case, we proved unable to react adequately. We showed ourselves to be weak. And the weak get beaten. Some would like to tear from us a "juicy piece of pie". Others help them. They help, reasoning that Russia still remains one of the world's major nuclear powers, and as such still represents a threat to them.
And so they reason that this threat should be removed." In line with the statements above, Russia's economy recovered following increases in crude oil and natural gas prices in the early 2000s and the stability of Putin's leadership. This condition had enabled Russia to take a proactive approach in restoring its great power status. Russia's aspirations to restore its position were closely linked to former Soviet territories (Toal, 2017). These territories, where the former Russian Empire and the Soviet Union were located, were special because of cultural and historical factors. The excerpts of official documents above show Russia's aspiration as a benign hegemon and the significance of ex-Soviet states as significant others to build that identity. The narrative of Russia being one of the centres of the world's civilisation required the affirmation of the former Soviet region. The region, which had strong historical and cultural ties with Russia, would be an important capital to defend Russia's identity and position as one of the great powers in international politics.
Russia and Georgia shared a long history that could be traced back to the Kievan Rus era. In this research, the eight-century-long history is assumed to be pre-social; the main focus will be on the war between the two countries in 2008; the history that is relevant to the phenomenon will be analysed through the framework of a social process, and the context of the relationship between the two countries is seen through the lens of cultures of anarchy.
Russia's aspiration to become a great power was not intended to threaten its neighbour countries based on the "Greater Europe" concept. This concept saw Europe as a multicultural continent. Eastern Europe or the post-Soviet region, represented by Russia, had a distinct, yet equal, identity with Western Europe. European integration, according to this perspective, is cooperation between different but equal European countries. Russia saw regional integration in the post-Soviet region as a part of a bigger European integration. The statement below reflects that perspective.
"Soon the Customs Union, and later the Eurasian Union, will join the dialogue with the EU. As a result, apart from bringing direct economic benefits, accession to the Eurasian Union will also help countries integrate into Europe sooner and from a stronger position. In addition, a partnership between the Eurasian Union and EU that is economically consistent and balanced will prompt changes in the geo-political and geo-economic setup of the continent as a whole with a guaranteed global effect" (Putin, 2011).
Through the lens of the Greater Europe concept, Russia supported many regional initiatives to strengthen connectivity and cooperation between post-Soviet countries, such States (CIS), which was established after the fall of the Soviet Union to facilitate the civil separation of the ex-Soviet countries. CIS would then become an intermediary for regional integration in Eurasia (Mankoff, 2009).
Russia's actions in the modern era reflected a qualitative change to its position against Georgia. This change pointed to Russia's acceptance of the political reality of the Soviet Union's division and later inspired its aspiration to become a benign hegemon in the ex-Soviet region. It also indicated an understanding of the ex-Soviet countries' independent status from Russia and Russia's desires to establish good relations, cooperation and influence them in the future, including Georgia.
On the other hand, Georgia, as one of the countries in the region, perceived Russia as a threat (Asmus, 2010;Cornell & Starr, 2009;Freire & Kanet, 2012). This was motivated by the history of the social interactions between the two. The Georgian civil war that began in 1988 and ended in 1993 left Georgia with a bitter experience with Russia (Freire & Kanet, 2012). The heated conflict later propelled South Ossetia and Abkhazia to separate themselves from Georgia. The civil war ended after Russia provided aid to Edward Shevardnadze, which concluded Gamskhurdia's chauvinist policies. South Ossetia and Abkhazia already held suspicions towards Georgia, which could easily return to its chauvinist stance. The two regions then chose to separate themselves from Georgia.
Russia was asked to mediate the conflict and facilitate reintegration peacefully, but the negotiation did not go well. Thus, South Ossetia and Abkhazia became (de facto) independent from Georgia and later followed by Adjara, who took advantage of the Georgian government's weakness. Shevardnadze won the civil war with Russian aid, but the loss of the central government's control over the three Georgian provinces was a hard blow to the legitimacy of Georgia's sovereignty (Jones, 2011). Henceforth, Russian involvement was viewed negatively. According to Georgia, Russia was the main reason Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Adjara became (de facto) independent, and their presence in Georgia was perceived as an attempt to weaken Georgia so that it would remain dependent on Russia.
To contain the "threat" from Russia, Georgia approached the U.S. and built strong bilateral relations with them (Stent, 2014). warfare between Georgia and Russia. Russia's change in attitude showed its failure to maintain its cooperative narrative due to resistance from Georgia.

Social Interaction and Social Learning in Russo-Georgia Relations
Social interaction is a relationship between state actors based on the identities and interests of the actors, influenced by the existing culture of anarchy (Wendt, 1999). These Georgia saw itself as a "European" country that was newly independent from the "colonial" occupation of the Soviet Union. The process of social interaction between the two countries showed the difference in identity-related narratives between the two countries. Russia's narrative as a benign great power failed to be reproduced, while Georgia's confrontational narrative was dominant following the outbreak of war in 2008.
The suspicion between these two countries was already present before the Rose Georgia's inclination to draw closer to the U.S. and its confrontation with Abkhazia and South Ossetia caused Russia to change its foreign policy. Russia abandoned the cooperative approach and responded to the confrontation reciprocally by normalising gas prices. They responded to the point of criticising Georgia's attempts to join NATO.
The history of social interaction between the two countries shows the learning process they experienced. The two countries took similar lessons from their interactions; that they were enemies of one another. The table below shows the learning process carried out by both parties up until the war. The processes above represent the social interactions and social learning experienced by the actors. As can be seen above, the learning differences between Russia and Georgia bred expectations full of suspicions. Russia's attempts to change relations between countries to a cooperative nature failed. Especially after the 2003 revolution, social interactions have instead consolidated Georgia's narrative about the Russian threat.
Russia, which was constantly disillusioned by Georgia's rejection, changed its understanding towards Georgia from being seen as an illusionary enemy into a real enemy.

Identities and Interests Leading to the Russo-Georgian War
Identities and interests determine states' behaviour in social interactions. The result of their interactions will strengthen or weaken the existing culture of anarchy, which then legitimise or delegitimise the identities and interests of the involved states (Wendt, 1999).
Specifically, identities set the position of the Self and the Other during an interaction, while interests determine what condition must be established or maintained by a state to legitimise its identity. Each actor has their own perception of their identities and interests and the position of other states within their worldview. Differences in narratives on identities and interests among states may lead to conflict when their interests encroach on the interests of other actors. The resulting condition of said conflict will shape the intersubjective understanding among actors.
In this regard, Russia viewed itself as a benign great power with good intentions for their neighbours. This required Russia to fulfil several interests to preserve said identity. First, Russia must obtain hegemonic capabilities within the political, economic, military, and cultural sectors. Second, they must set certain territories which were of importance. Third, they must cultivate good relations with states in those territories to affirm Russia's position as a benign great power. Russia's behaviours were intended to satisfy these interests.
To achieve these interests, Russia focused on developing territories relevant to Russia's interests and pursued good relations with states in those territories. Russia utilised the legacy of its economic background as a capital, along with cultural independence. This effort was also demonstrated in their relations with Georgia as a former Soviet territory.
Several actions represented Russia's intentions to Georgia. Russia sought to ensure peace in conflict zones, dubbed as "frozen conflicts," due to the Soviet Union's sudden collapse. Abkhazia and South Ossetia were examples of such zones, which became de facto independent from Georgia following the 1993 civil war. Though both territories aimed for separation from Georgia-South Ossetia even desired to join the Russian Federation-Russia still considered both territories as Georgia's before the 2008 war. Russia took the initiative to form a regional institution to improve cooperation among former Soviet states under the auspice of CIS. Within the economic sector, Russia established EEU to support economic recovery in Eurasia. Within the security sector, Russia formed CSTO to secure borders from crimes that often occurred across the region.
Russia also backed the concept of Eurasia and provided support to cultural NGOs to promote the idea of Russkiy Mir. Russia's support for the Eurasia concept was a part of their vision in pursuance of European integration under the concept of a Greater Europe.
Forming institutions upon the basis of a Eurasian identity served as a medium to augment Eurasian perspectives, thus allowing them to be at a level playing field with Western Europe during the process of European integration.
Contrary to Russia, which built a Eurasian identity and distinguished itself from Western Europe, Georgia put itself as a part of Western Europe who was colonised by In line with the said vision, all forms of regional integration, which did not come from Western Europe, were seen as threats. Georgia deemed that integration would lead them to memberships in EU and NATO. Georgia's advance to the U.S. was not a problem but a necessity as a European state who had repealed Soviet colonialism and was in the process of resisting Russia's imperialist power.
Georgia's identity as a European state led Georgia to be in possession of certain interests. The first one was to join NATO and EU. Second, to achieve close relations with the U.S. as a Western European ally. Third, to promote narratives that justified its position as a European, instead of a Eurasian, state. Fourth, it preserved Russia's position as a threat to Georgia. Similar to Russia's needs to have Georgia as a good neighbour to protect its identity, Georgia needed an "evil" Russia to legitimise its European identity.
Henceforth, all forms of cooperation from the West, both from Western Europe or the U.S., were welcomed by Georgia.
In contrast, Russia's initiatives were often neglected or even viewed as imperialist endeavours. Georgia believed that Abkhazia and South Ossetia's de facto independent status was Russia's plan, and Russia's peacekeeping forces were agents who distanced both territories from Georgia. Georgia perceived itself as a European state held captive by Russia, and their main interests were to free themselves from Russia's captivity and join Western Europe.
Georgia's actions provoked more robust responses from Russia. Russia retaliated by lifting the embargo imposed on Russian goods to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, normalising Russian gas prices, and conducting similar military activities to those of Georgia. These responses weakened their identity as a benign hegemon and legitimised Georgia's narratives which viewed Russia as a threat.
Identity-based narratives served as foundations to both states' national interests.
Russia viewed itself as a benign hegemon, and Georgia, as the neighbouring state, was supposed to affirm Russia's position and maintain good relations. Georgia perceived itself as a European state and positioned Eurasia as an antithesis to its identity. Russia's identity pushed Russia closer to Georgia, while Georgia's identity distanced them from Russia.
These contrasting identities and interests were the contextual basis of the 2008 war.
The national interests of both states, which stood in opposition against each other, formed their behaviours that infringed the interests of each other. With their efforts to be "European," Georgia threatened Russia's national security with its proximity to NATO and violated Russia's self-esteem as a regional great power. In pursuance of their status as a benign great power, Russia impaired Georgia's aspiration to be "European." The identities and interests of both states enabled a confrontative social interaction. This confrontative nature pointed to the Hobbesian culture, which emerged in their relations and underlay the 2008 war.

The Domination of Hobbesian Culture as the Context of the War
Culture of anarchy is the result of social interaction between actors. This culture determines expectations on behaviours among actors. The culture of anarchy can explain why state actors do what they do with certain actors but not with other actors (Wendt, 1999). According to Wendt, the culture of anarchy is homeostatic. Therefore, changes will not occur if there are no crucial events or a shift in the nature of social interactions in different directions for a long time. The culture of anarchy shapes and is shaped by social interactions. Therefore, changes in anarchic culture must be carried out from changes in the identity and interests of the actors. Not only that, changes made must be affirmed by other actors or a significant Other in order to replace the dominant culture of anarchy. One-sided changes from actors that are not followed by affirmation from other actors can only be done if the strengths of the two actors are far different and the stronger actor continues to accommodate or coerce the weaker actor. Continued disillusionment with Georgia's disregard for its cooperative efforts led Russia to follow its neighbour's narrative. Russia acted with the same hostile perception as Georgia. This allowed Russia to repel U.S.-trained and armed Georgian troops quickly and even go on a counteroffensive. The Russian military's swift reaction was based on Russia's understanding of its relationship with Georgia. Georgia was no longer a friend or neutral country in the region but an enemy that had the potential to attack Russia. The conflict of national interests between the two countries had resulted in failed cooperation efforts and dominant hostilities. The Hobbesian culture between Russia and Georgia caused all benign efforts of Russia to be seen through the perception of the enemy, preventing any improvement of relations between the two countries.
The first tendency of Hobbesian culture is to treat each other as enemies and to counter confrontation with confrontation whenever the capabilities allow. This tendency could be seen in Georgia's behaviour, which saw Russia as an enemy. Georgia committed acts that violated Russian interests from 2004 to 2008. The Georgian Parliament unilaterally prohibited Russian peacekeepers on the Georgia-Abkhazia and Georgia-South Ossetia borders. Georgia also insisted on being a member of NATO with U.S. support. Georgia also expelled Russian diplomats from Georgia on charges of illegal spying. With countries in the ex-Soviet territories, which were also suspicious of Russia, Georgia built several regional initiatives that excluded Russia. Examples are GUAM, Community of Democratic Choice, and the Carpathia Declaration. Georgia was also looking to strengthen its military on its borders with Russia. An increase in Georgian The last tendency is to destroy the enemy whenever possible and immobilise the enemy as long as possible. Once again, the two actors showed this attitude. In its military operation against Tskhinvali, the Georgian military used war-grade missiles to bomb the city of Tskhinvali. These actions showed that Georgia had no qualms about destroying infrastructure in South Ossetia. Russia did the same thing; Russian military operations did not stop in Southern Ossetia but continued into the de facto areas of Georgia. Russia also destroyed military and civilian infrastructure in its path to prevent future invasion of Georgia. This action reflected the thick Hobbesian culture between the two countries. The table below shows a comparison of the culture of anarchy with the realities of Georgia-Russia relations. Thick Hobbesian culture filtered all Russian actions through perceptions of hostility and suspicion. Russia's actions were also filtered through the lens of Georgian hostility. Russia's role in the Rose Revolution and the return of Adjara were eliminated.
Both events were attributed to Georgia's domestic revival instead of Russia's efforts to improve relations between the two countries.
Russia was much stronger than Georgia, but it failed to bring Georgia to accept its narrative. This failure was due to Georgia's success in embracing the West, especially the U.S., in association with Russia. The U.S., in particular, was Georgia's biggest sponsor. The U.S. support for Georgia was also why Georgia dared to be confrontational with its neighbours, who were much stronger than it. The U.S. presence, which often supported Georgian policies, caused the Russian narrative to fail in its relations with Georgia.
Using the social process framework put forward by Wendt in explaining the phenomenon of the Georgian and Russian War, it is shown that Hobbesian culture based on the Realism tradition was very thick in the relationship between Russia and Georgia.
This caused the outbreak of war between the two countries.

CONCLUSION
Social interactions between Russia and Georgia, especially those which occurred through the 1993 Georgian Civil War and the 2003 Rose Revolution, pointed towards the dominance of the Hobbesian culture, which led to conflict escalation and, consequentially, the 2008 war. Russia failed to reproduce its aspiration to become a benign hegemon as Georgia, the Significant Other, interpreted the aspiration as Russia's colonial ambition. Georgia's manoeuvres in balancing Russia through the U.S. succeeded in shifting their relative material power against Russia.
Supports from the U.S. enabled Georgia to debunk Russia's cooperative narratives despite Russia's power preponderance against Georgia. Georgia's actions, which stood in opposition to Russia's cooperative aspirations, shifted Russia's cooperative stance into a confrontative one to protect its national security. The 2008 war occurred due to the prominence of the logic of enmity between the two states; thus, confrontative actions were deemed logical and military actions were viewed as the best option possible.
Alexander Wendt's Constructivism provides an alternative explanation to the 2008 war.
Employing the identity-based social interaction scheme, as well as the influence of the culture of anarchy on actors' behaviours, Georgia's contributions which were often simplified in other research as a minor actor, took on a more active and prominent position, making them one of the primary responsible party that caused the war to happen.
Wendt's Constructivism is often criticised by other proponents of Constructivism, as it is built upon assumptions derived from positivism. This study finds that employing Wendt's proposed analytical framework on social process and cultures of anarchy within interstate relations has affirmed the prominence of Hobbesian culture-a culture derived from a realist lens and stems from positivism. Therefore, consequent studies should employ reflectivist theories to compare this research and other previous studies that employed positivist approaches. This research emphasises the West's roles, especially the U.S., without providing a detailed account of Europe's role. Henceforth, future studies may be able to fill the said gap by scrutinising the positions of West European powers, such as Germany, France, and the U.K., who were divided into those who were sympathetic with Russia's Greater Europe vision and the Atlanticist group, such as Poland and Baltic states, who viewed Russia as a threat. President Saakashvili's dominant involvement in the 2008 war provided great opportunities for studies at the individual level. A comprehensive understanding of the 2008 Russo-Georgian war will allow scholars to understand former Soviet territories better. The 2014 Russo-Ukrainian war occurred in similar manners to that of the conflict between Russia and Georgia. The conflict escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 is another example of territorial conflicts in former Soviet territories.