Georgia After the Mission in Afghanistan: How to Reclaim Relevance in NATO’s Current Agenda

Nino Samkharadze The decision of the USA and NATO to end an almost 20 year-long mission in Afghanistan poses additional challenges to Georgia’s path of Euro-Atlantic integration. Ending the mission, and withdrawing US and NATO forces will reduce Tbilisi’s direct military engagement with NATO. At...
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The First 100 Days of Georgian Dream Government: Reality and Challenges

Authors: Bidzina Lebanidze, Elguja Khokrishvili, Salome Kandelaki, Nino Samkharadze, Givi Silagadze Georgia’s parliamentary elections in 2020 resulted in a new political crisis, which further complicated the grave situation in the country resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. In the context of the...
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Jean Monnet European Dialogue – Next Step towards Consensus-Oriented Politics

Nino Samkharadze[1] Although the first stage of the EU’s mediation during the ongoing Georgian political crisis initially failed, Georgian political parties continue to discuss the terms of the agreement within the EU’s mediation framework.[2] During different stages of the discussion pr...
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EU Mediation in Georgia’s Political Crisis: What did We (not) Understand?

Nino Samkharadze  [1] For five months, Georgia has faced a severe political crisis that has been worrying enough for its European partners to express unprecedented interest in the country’s ongoing political processes. Indeed, the EU has been actively involved  in attempting to solve the cri...
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Between Rhetoric and Action: Right-wing Populism in Georgia’s Parliamentary Life

Nino Samkharadze Throughout the world, populism is on the rise in both governments and various political institutions. There are approximately five times the amount of populist forces leading political institutions today than there were in post-World War II Europe (Kyle & Meyer 2020). At the sam...
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Inter-party Negotiations in a Time of Crisis: What Hinders an Effective Dialogue?

Nino Samkharadze [1] Georgia has faced an unfolding political crisis over the last few months. Despite the active participation of trustworthy international actors, including the President of the European Council in the post-election political dialogue, there are still no signs of consensus and nego...
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Georgia After the 2020 Parliamentary Elections: Expert Interview with Dr. Neil MacFarlane

Interview by Nino Samkharadze, GIP Junior Policy Analyst „As for EU policy towards Georgia, I personally think that the evolution of your relationship will be a long process. And the best thing that Georgians can do to push that along is internal development of internal institutions.“...
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Who Supports National Populism in Georgia? Drawing Parallels with the West

Nino Samkharadze Understanding the rise in support for right-wing populism across Europe and the nature of right-wing populist support across social, economic and political lines, is an important topic for analysis. During the 2020 parliamentary election campaign in Georgia various political actors ...
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USA Foreign Policy in Transition: How a Biden Administration Impacts Georgia

Nino Samkharadze The dramatic 2020 USA presidential elections are finally over with Joe Biden having defeated Donald Trump. [i] A new administration means new conditions for USA foreign relations in general, and of importance to us, Georgia. This piece focuses on the revitalization of traditional al...
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