About the lecture

The enlargement of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization were fundamental processes in the post-Cold War international politics. It is acknowledged that these foreign policy instruments were effective in consolidating democracies in the Central and Eastern European states. Similarly, the Euro-Atlantic integration correlated with the formation of positive attitudes towards democracy among the public of these nations. EU and NATO membership brought political and economic development and a sense of stability to its member states.

However, the growth of the contestants of the liberal script around the world today has brought significant challenges to the Europeanization process. In this presentation, we will discuss the opportunities and challenges Georgia faces on the path of its Euro-Atlantic integration, as well as how its ruling political elites act and react in this process, and to what extent the international politics affect their decision-making. Finallly, we will review how the Euro-Atlantic Integration shaped the popular attitudes towards democracy over the years of 2014-2022.

About the speaker

Zarina Burkadze is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Ilia State University Tbilisi, Georgia. She is a founding member and secretary general of the Georgian Association for Public Opinion Research, and author of Great Power Competition and the Path to Democracy – The Case of Georgia, 1991-2020 (Rochester University Press, 2022). She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Zurich and was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar at the Elliott School of International Affairs, IERES, George Washington University (2019-20). Professor Burkadze was also a visiting scholar at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Her research interest revolves around the topics of democratization, Europeanization, democracy, and autocracy promotion. She enjoys teaching and delivers courses on research design, political violence and democracy for Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral students.

Attending the lecture

• Please contact Anastasia Mgaloblishvili if you can attend the event and would also like to join for dinner in Piaggio afterwards. anastasia.mgaloblishvili@fu-berlin.de