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List of contents
Introduction
Stephen F. Jones
Part 1: The Uses of Identity in Georgian Foreign Policy
1 Achieving Security as a Small State
Tracey German & Kornely Kakachia
2 The Role of Public Relations and International Politics in Georgian
Democracy Making
Lincoln A Mitchell
3 The Georgian Orthodox Church as a Foreign Policy Actor
Salome Minesashvili
Part 2: The Regional Context
4 In the Caucasus but toward the Black Sea: Georgia’s Regional Identity
in Flux
David Aprasidze
5 Georgia’s relations with Turkey and Iran
George Sanikidze
6 End of the Post-Soviet Era in Georgia’s Foreign Policy?
Georgia’s Relations with Former Soviet Republics
Levan Kakhishvili & Alexander Kupatadze
Part 3: Georgia and the ‘West’
7 EU-Georgia: Politics, Geography and Identity
Natalie Sabanadze
8 Security, solidarity, specialisation: Understanding Baltic and Polish support
for Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration
Bidzina Lebanidze & Renata Skardziute-Kereselidze
9 Georgia’s Alliance With – Not In - NATO: External Balancing, Autonomy
and Community
Michael Hikari Cecire
Part 4: Georgia and the Great Powers
10 The Story of Two Triangles: Georgia’s Russia Policies
Ghia Nodia
11 US-Georgian Relations: Expanding the Capacity of a Small State
Mamuka Tsereteli
Afterword
Tracey German, Stephen F. Jones & Kornely Kakachia
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Tracey German is a Reader in the Defence Studies Department at King's College London, UK. She is an associate fellow at RUSI.Kornely Kakachia is Associate Professor of Political Science at Ivane Javakishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia, and Director of the Tbilisi-based Institute of Politics.Stephen F. Jones is Professor of Russian Studies at Mount Holyoke College, USA. He is an expert on post-communist societies in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Jones has briefed the U.S. Department of State on a regular basis, as well as a number of U.S. ambassadors to Georgia.
Summary
The South Caucasus is the key strategic region between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea and the regional powers of Iran, Turkey and Russia and is the land bridge between Asia and Europe with vital hydrocarbon routes to international markets. This volume examines the resulting geopolitical positioning of Georgia, a pivotal state and lynchpin of the region, illustrating how and why Georgia's foreign policy is 'multi-vectored', facing potential challenges from Russia, int ernal and external nationalisms, the possible break-up of the European project and EU support and uncertainty over the US commitment to the traditional liberal international order.
Foreword
An in-depth analysis of Georgia's foreign policy.
Additional text
This volume, examining every nook and cranny of the Georgian foreign policy arena, offers a master-class on the foreign policy of small states. It is essential reading for those wanting to understand the nexus of regional aspirations that undergird the geopolitics of South Caucasus. German, Jones, and Kakachia have brought together authors of extraordinary insight and expertise, who collectively provide a multi-layered examination of Georgia’s role in the world and the decisions – both costly and beneficial -- its leadership have made along the way.
