European Security, a forum for discussing challenges and approaches to security within the region as well as for Europe in a global context, published an article titled “Bandwagoning by stealth? Explaining Georgia’s Appeasement Policy on Russia,” Authored by Kornely Kakachia, director at GIP, and Bidzina Lebanidze, a senior policy analyst at GIP.
Abstract
Bandwagoning by stealth refers to a situation when a government of a small state tries to accommodate a great power turned to aggressor amid a strong public opposition. We explain it with the example of Georgia’s foreign policy towards Russia in the period of 2012–2022. It is argued that Georgia’s attempt for rapprochement to Russia since 2012 can be explained by two unit-level variables: (1) a belief of the country’s leadership in the need to accommodate Russia and (2) a societal and public opposition to the Russia-accommodating policy. A conflictual dynamic between the Russia-accommodating government and Russia-sceptic public resulted in bandwagoning by stealth – a defacto and partial bandwagoning with Russia without formally changing Georgia’s declared pro-Western foreign policy.
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