Georgia Today (11 January 2024)

Victor KİPİANİ(*)

These currents of polycrisis – the war in Ukraine, post-pandemic aftershocks, and the first global economic warfare – expose countries of the region, including Georgia, to a number of qualitatively new challenges and “known unknowns.” For Georgia itself, there are a number of risks specific to its geography, foreign policy objectives, and internal politics. Regardless of the ample variety, we can group them, along with related opportunities, in the following way:

Security Challenge
The hot-phase conflict in Ukraine further underlines the vulnerability of Georgia and the extent of the country’s exposure to regional disorder and instability. The quest for a solid “security umbrella” is more existential than ever before. In the absence of formidable security guarantees extended by international partners, Georgia’s pursuit of its foreign agenda could be bumpy enough, while also contributing to considerable fissures in the domestic political process.

The very same risks, however, allow both Georgia and its partners unique and timely opportunities to identify and implement ways and solutions nearly unthinkable prior to the war in Ukraine. It is indeed a good momentum for innovative and bold decisions with regards to the meaningful integration of Georgia into the West-led security system, and in order to address the nearly 30-year-long conundrum of the country’s “geopolitical flux.”

To read the rest of the article, please click: https://georgiatoday.ge/most-significant-security-challenges-and-opportunities-for-the-caspian-region-the-georgian-perspective/

*This article was published as part of AVİM's partnership program. Victor Kipiani is the Chairman of Tbilisi-based Geocase, a partner organization of AVİM. For AVİM’s partnership program, click here.