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PONARS Eurasia
PONARS Eurasia
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  • Commentary | Комментарии

New Policy Memo: Was the West’s Engagement with Abkhazia Doomed to Fail?

  • August 12, 2015
  • Eiki Berg

Over the last five years, Abkhazia has received more international attention than ever before in its over two decades of de facto statehood. In 2009 the West launched an engagement strategy paralleling Georgia’s own initiatives for dealing with Abkhazia. According to this strategy, Abkhazia was given the opportunity to engage with the West on a number of political, economic, social, and cultural issues, while leaving recognition as an independent state off the table. The overall aim was to maintain trust between the West and the local population, open a new international path that avoided leaving all Abkhazian eggs in the Russian basket, and support the idea of Georgia as a “role model” that would become a political-economic magnet for residents of Abkhazia.

Contrary to expectations, however, the implementation of this engagement strategy alienated Abkhazians. By contrast, Russian-Abkhazian relations reached a new level in November 2014, when the two parties signed a Treaty of Alliance and Strategic Partnership. This move was interpreted, in light of the Crimean annexation, as an attempt by Russia to annex Abkhazia and dismember Georgia.

In the end, the West’s ability to engage with Abkhazia had serious limitations that would be very difficult to overcome. Although Abkhazians do not have any illusions of doing better under Russia, Western engagement remains an even worse option. And even if the United States and European Union were to improve upon their strategy in a way that better accommodated Abkhazia’s concerns, engagement would still be unlikely to succeed, given Russian dominance in all possible spheres. 

Read More | PDF

Eiki Berg
Website | + posts
Professor of International Relations

Affiliation

University of Tartu, Estonia

Links

University of Tartu (Bio)

Expertise

Critical Geopolitics, Sovereignty and Territoriality Issues, Secessionist Conflicts, De Facto States in Eurasia
  • Eiki Berg
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/eiki-berg/
    De Facto States and Land-for-Peace Agreements: Territory and Recognition at Odds?
  • Eiki Berg
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/eiki-berg/
    When There Is a State? The Politics of Recognition and Kosovo
  • Eiki Berg
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/eiki-berg/
    Can European Brakes Slow Down Russia’s Drive in Secessionist Conflicts?
  • Eiki Berg
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/eiki-berg/
    Diaspora Politics on Abkhazia: Involved in Half Capacity
Related Topics
  • Abkhazia
  • Berg
  • Georgia
  • Nagorno-Karabakh
  • Russia
Previous Article
  • Policy Memos | Аналитика

Was the West’s Engagement with Abkhazia Doomed to Fail?

  • August 12, 2015
  • Eiki Berg
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