The five day war that shocked the world: An analysis of the peace process of the Russo-Georgian war.

Abstract

This thesis offers an analysis of the peace process during and after the Russo-Georgian war in 2008 and its effect on the political relation between Russia and the European Union. In the war, Georgian forces attacked the Georgian province of South Ossetia in the night of 7 August. Russia soon invaded with the purpose of assisting the Ossetians in their defence. Russia defeated the Georgian forces and advanced in the direction of Tbilisi. To stop the Russian forces, French president Nicolas Sarkozy as President of the European Council mediated a ceasefire between the Russian and Georgian presidents. Aiming to give a complete analysis, this article starts with a brief overview of the academic debate on peacekeeping theory. The cosmopolitan conflict resolution theory is used as a framework in this thesis to give a better understanding of the peace process. In the following chapter, the peace process and the roles of the actors of the war are discussed. Finally the role of the EU as a mediator and the way its mediation influenced the relation between Russia and the EU are evaluated.