Democracy

Located in the south of Georgia, bordering Armenia and Türkiye, lies the region of Samtskhe-Javakheti. This article analyses the challenges of youth (those aged 14-29) in and from the region, focusing on mental health, political participation, recreation, and emigration. In demographically and geopolitically complex surroundings, youth issues usually do not stand in the spotlight of public and political discourse. This results in a lack of awareness and support from decision makers, which in turn reinforces the struggles young people face in their daily lives, likely contributing to high youth emigration rates.

This article explores the relationship between identity, heritage, and place in the villages of Akhali Khulgumo and Tambovka near Paravani Lake. It highlights the social change these villages have experienced since 1991. It examines how the interplay between memory of the past and the changing dwelling practices of the Dukhobor houses in Tambovka is constitutive of broader socio-cultural transformations, positioning the two villages also within current (geo)political dynamics and new identity negotiations.

Anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric has been a central element of the Georgian Dream’s anti-democratic turn towards the far right. How do anti-LGBTQ+ statements and policies help GD expand its grip on power, and why does this strategy work? 

The Kremlin denies sovereignty and territorial integrity not only to Ukraine but also to Georgia. But unlike Ukraine, the ruling Georgian Dream party follows the Russian playbook and uses the Russian threat to maintain authoritarian power. 

The article examines the current state of self-government in Georgia - an area that has received relatively less attention in the process of forming the agenda of modern Georgian public life. 

On April 1, 2023, the Heinrich Boell Foundation Tbilisi Office - South Caucasus Region, in collaboration with Mtsvaneebi (Greens Georgia), organized an online discussion entitled "A Green European Perspective for Georgia". The discussion focused on the recent massive street protests in Georgia led by young people and a broad civil society

Robin Wagener, member of the German Bundestag, became the Federal Foreign Office’s coordinator for inter-societal co-operation with the South Caucasus, the Republic of Moldova and Central Asia on 1 March 2023. In this conversation, we are going to be talking about his new task and the condition of civil societies in the South Caucasus.

The article below will touch upon the potential for the emergence and self-creation of a new political citizenship in the context of the Rioni Valley protest.