By Sergi Kapanadze

 

  

March 28, 2022

 

The recent civil protests against the draft law on “agents of foreign influence” in Georgia raisedserious questions about the country’s European aspirations. German Foreign minister Annalena Boerbock, who visited Tbilisi on March 23-24, first met with the Georgian civil society to underline her support to NGOs, which had just won a round against the Government of Georgia. Indeed, Georgia is at a crossroads, as many times before; however, this time, ruling oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili is close to undertaking a u-turn that would distance Georgia from the Westand put in Moscow’s lap. It is comparable to what Viktor Yanukovich unsuccessfully tried to doin 2013 in Ukraine. However, unlike Ukraine, Georgia’s u-turn is longer, more fundamentaland covertly implemented. The March 6-9 public protests prevented Georgian Dream from passing the Russian-type law, but the u-turn is still underway and in full gear.

  

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By Kornely Kakachia

September 5, 2022

 

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Georgia has struggled to achieve its foreign policy goals of restoring its territorial integrity and achieving Euro-Atlantic integration. In recent years, Georgia’s relations with the West have cooled somewhat as a result of Georgia’s internal problems, while the Georgian Dream government’s normalization policy with Russia has led to an increase in Russian influence in the country. In effect, a pro-Western foreign policy was replaced by a balancing approach between Russia and the West. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exposed the limits of this having the-cake-and-eating-it approach, which has led to the question whether the GD government lost its foreign policy compass, at a time when its domestic objective to stay in power clashes with the reforms needed to push for EU membership.

 

 

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Published in Feature Articles

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The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst has brought cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.

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