Episode 31. Timothy Blauvelt & Francis King: Clientelism and Nationality in Early Soviet Abkhazia

In this podcast, Timothy Blauvelt of Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, in conversation with Francis King of the University of East Anglia’s East Centre, considers the early years of Soviet Abkhazia and its well-connected leader, Nestor Lakoba. The discussion ranges over Lakoba’s role in the revolution, his career as the indispensable Bolshevik figure in Soviet Abkhazia, and what his story reveals about nationality policy and personal patronage in the pre-war USSR. It touches on themes considered at greater length in Timothy Blauvelt, Clientelism and Nationality in an Early Soviet Fiefdom. The Trials of Nestor Lakoba (Routledge, 2021).