South Caucasus at a Crossroad: Thorny Realities and Great Expectations

In June 2013 the South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation celebrated 10 years since its establishment in the region. On June 5-6, 2013 the Foundation dedicated the international conference “South Caucasus at a Crossroad: 10 years of the Heinrich Boell Foundation in the Region" to its jubilee. Politicians, analysts and civil society activists from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the United States of America and the European Union took part in the event. The conference was aimed at assessing the complex political, social and cultural developments that took place in the three South Caucasus nations during the previous decade. Exactly in a year after the Foundation’s 10th anniversary, owe to generous engagement and kind assistance of its friend and supporter Ms. Salome Asatiani, processing of the Conference materials successfully resulted in the bilingual (Georgian and English) publication “South Caucasus at a Crossroad: Thorny Realities and Great Expectations”.

The book consists of four main sections. The first part, entitled "The West and the Region: Views from Outside and Within "provides in-depth, realistic and matter-of-fact perspectives on the complex interrelations between the EU and USA, on the one hand, and Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan on the other. After the overview of the intricate interrelations between the West and the region, the book devotes separate sections to internal situations in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan – from a political perspective, as well as from the point of view of post-Soviet modernization, the state of civil society and urban development.

The “South Caucasus at a Crossroad: Thorny Realities and Great Expectations” will be disseminated throughout the South Caucasus region and wider Europe and its presentations accompanied by discussions will be organized in the capitals of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

See book reviews>>

 

Product details
Date of Publication
2014
Publisher
Heinrich Boell Foundation
Number of Pages
212
Licence
All rights reserved
Language of publication
English
ISBN / DOI
978-9941-0-6545-3
Table of contents

Crossroads or fork in the road? Nino Lejava

Introduction Salome Asatiani

Part I: The West and the Region: Views from Outside and Within

Measuring the European Neighbourhood Policy in the South Caucasus Jana Kobzova

Dropping in to See What Condition the Transition Is in the US, Democratic Development and the South Caucasus Lincoln Mitchell

Uneasy Tension Between "Security" and "Democracy" Approaches to the South Caucasus Manana Kochladze

Shaping Bridges of Western Engagement in the South Caucasus Adrian Brisku

Part II: Georgia: Transition and Its Discontent

Georgia's political trajectory and after the 2012 election Ivliane Haindrava

Weighing What We Do for Democracy in the South Caucasus. The Complex Case of Georgia Charles Fairbanks

Georgian Society at a Crossroads of Values Salome Asatiani

Local self-governance vs. street activism. Theoretical configuration and the Case of Georgia Davit Losaberidze

Prospects and Struggles for Tbilisi’s public spaces Lado Vardosanidze

Part III: Armenia: A Troubled Transition

Challenges of Geopolitics and Democracy Tatul Hakobyan

From ideologies to technologies. An anthropological overview of elections as an indicator of modernization and counter-modernization of Armenian society Gayane Shagoyan

Active Citizenship and Public Spaces in Armenia Yerevan and Beyond Arpine Galfayan

Part IV: The Azerbaijan: A Stalled Transition

Democracy In Azerbaijan: A Sombre Picture Kenan Aliyev

Challenges of democracy in Azerbaijan 2003-2013 Rahman Badalov

Elusive modernity Azerbaijan’s post-Soviet modernization Sergey Rumyantsev

Thorny Intersections: Urban Planning and Property Rights In Baku Zohrab Ismayil