Category: Publications

  • The Challenge of Moving EU-Georgia Relations Forward

    By Licinia Simao The Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit on 24 November in Brussels, represents another important milestone in Georgia’s path of European integration. After having signed an Association Agreement with the European Union that entered into force in July 2016, and having been granted visa free status, Georgia is now looking forward to seeing its position…

  • EaP Summit: A Beginning or End for EU-Azerbaijan Relations?

    EaP Summit: A Beginning or End for EU-Azerbaijan Relations?

    By Zaur Shiriyev Today’s Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels represents a never-ending question for the EU: how to retain the format’s effectiveness, and maintaining motivation among all participant states given increasing divergences in what they want from the EU. So far, the three countries that have signed Association Agreements get more benefits, especially within the…

  • EU & Azerbaijan: What Partnership is Possible?

    EU & Azerbaijan: What Partnership is Possible?

    By Licinia Simao Relations with Azerbaijan represent a challenge to the EU and its Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). This is largely due to Azerbaijan’s difficult balance between its strategic importance for EU energy security, Baku’s commitment to a multi-vectored foreign policy, and the defense of normative values that underpin European integration and the EU’s external relations…

  • EDSN Cited in LSE Analysis

    As it was originally conceived, the EDSN project was envisioned to be a long-term endeavor that would cultivate Eurasia-focused scholars and policy entrepreneurs to advocate for Euro-Atlantic conditionality, while also making the organic case for internal reforms. Long-term success is the goal, but some more immediate evidence of impact is always nice to see. Writing…

  • Keeping Armenia Close to the EU

    Licinia Simao The upcoming Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit, which will take place in Brussels on November 24, will be filled with symbolism for EU-Armenia relations. Four years after Armenia backed away from signing an Association Agreement to join instead the Eurasian Economic Union, the two partners are finally ready to formally sign a new tailor-made…

  • The Mayor and the Footballer

    The Mayor and the Footballer

    Lincoln Mitchell In Georgia’s recent local elections, Kakha Kaladze won handily in his bid to become Tbilisi’s mayor. As the nominee of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Kaladze was the strong favorite in an election where the ultimate outcome was never really in doubt. Perhaps understandably, the international media has not paid much attention to…

  • The Eastern Partnership’s Spinning Wheels

    The Eastern Partnership’s Spinning Wheels

    by Michael Cecire With November’s fifth Eastern Partnership (Eap) summit in Brussels looming, the once-ambitious EU platform looks to be taking a back-to-basics approach towards its eastern neighbors. Launched in 2009 as a mechanism of calibrating the European aspirations — latent or overt — of Armenia Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, the EaP has…

  • The Kremlin and the Panopticon

    The Kremlin and the Panopticon

    Lincoln Mitchell Over the last few years, the issue of Russian so-called “hybrid warfare” — and Moscow’s deft, if nefarious, use misinformation and media more generally — have been a central theme in global politics. This narrative found widespread traction in earnest with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, and accelerating substantially with the ongoing…