Why Georgians Need to Take Hungarian Lessons
Image credit/license Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man and the de facto leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party, has suffered a political setback. On April 12, prime minister Victor Orbán,…
Posts by author
Stephen F. Jones
6 posts
Hammering In the Last Nail: Georgian Dream Targets Universities
Image credit/license Authoritarian regimes understand the importance of controlling education for their own survival. Some, like the Bolsheviks, combined a vision of social transformation with a political strategy of control…
The People vs. Bidzina Ivanishvili. Who Will Win in 2025?
Image credit/license Georgia is not only at a geographical crossroads: In 2024, it arrived at a political one. As 2024 came to an end in Georgia, two rival claimants for…
Georgia’s Foreign Policy in the 21st Century: Challenges for a Small State
(Bloomsbury) 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…
The Lords of Misrule in Georgia
(PONARS Eurasia Commentary) Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia and de facto leader of the opposition United National Movement (UNM), is not a saint. But after seven weeks on…
Are Elections Bad for Georgia’s Democracy?
(PONARS Eurasia Commentary) Georgia’s politics has always been operatic, a blend of comedy and tragedy. Like opera, it is a performance for and by elites. The latest drama was the…