Democracy, Geopolitics, and the Future of US-Georgia Relations

The seminar on Georgia and the South Caucasus is a monthly event at the Davis Center. This semester we will discuss U.S.-Georgian relations, the economy, and Georgian-EU relations.

The U.S.-Georgian relationship for the last three decades has been politically aligned. The U.S. strongly supports Georgia’s territorial integrity and its application for membership of the European Union. In the 1990s and 2000s, the U.S. was key in creating the strategic energy infrastructure that crosses Georgian territory and has restored the country’s traditional function as a transit country between Asia and Europe. Georgian soldiers have contributed to all the major military operations led by the U.S. during the last two decades, most notably in Iraq and Afghanistan. But in the context of the Russian war against Ukraine, U.S.-Georgian bilateral relations have become strained. There are major geopolitical shifts afoot in the South Caucasus, and Georgia is central to their outcome. What explains these strains in the Georgian-U.S. relationship, and what are the prospects for Georgian-U.S. relations in the region?

There will be a brief introduction by Professor Stephen Jones, director of the Davis Center’s Program on Georgian Studies. The co-organizer and moderator of the seminar is Dr. Mamuka Tsereteli, currently a senior fellow at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute in Washington, D.C.