Georgia’s Foreign Policy in the 21st Century

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 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.

• IntroductionStephen F. JonesPart 1: The Uses of Identity in Georgian Foreign Policy1 Achieving Security as a Small StateTracey German & Kornely Kakachia2 The Role of Public Relations and International Politics in Georgian Democracy MakingLincoln A Mitchell3 The Georgian Orthodox Church as a Foreign Policy ActorSalome MinesashviliPart 2: The Regional Context4 In the Caucasus but toward the Black Sea: Georgia’s Regional Identity in FluxDavid Aprasidze5 Georgia’s relations with Turkey and IranGeorge Sanikidze6 End of the Post-Soviet Era in Georgia’s Foreign Policy? Georgia’s Relations with Former Soviet RepublicsLevan Kakhishvili & Alexander KupatadzePart 3: Georgia and the ‘West’7 EU-Georgia: Politics, Geography and IdentityNatalie Sabanadze8 Security, solidarity, specialisation: Understanding Baltic and Polish supportfor Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integrationBidzina Lebanidze & Renata Skardziute-Kereselidze9 Georgia’s Alliance With – Not In - NATO: External Balancing, Autonomy and CommunityMichael Hikari CecirePart 4: Georgia and the Great Powers10 The Story of Two Triangles: Georgia’s Russia PoliciesGhia Nodia11 US-Georgian Relations: Expanding the Capacity of a Small StateMamuka TsereteliAfterwordTracey German, Stephen F. Jones & Kornely KakachiaBibliographyIndex

Georgia’s dilemma remains the tension between its identity and its security: how to realise its dominant Western orientation and integrate further into Euro-Atlantic structures, without risking its precarious security and veering into another fateful clash with Russian power. This incisive, nuanced and well-structured collection by Georgian and Western scholars explores this puzzle and offers cautious optimism. It is far more than just a go-to study to explain foreign policy flux in the South Caucasus. It should be read by all academics and practitioners seeking to understand how the foreign policy options of small states like Georgia are not simply tied to their geography.