Strategic Triangles, Actors and Agency: Georgia and Abkhazia in a Changing Regional Context

What is it about?

This is an Introduction to a double Special Issue on "Strategic Triangles, Actors and Agency: Georgia and Abkhazia in a Changing Regional Context" guest edited by Dr Helge Blakkisrud and Dr Nino Kemoklidze. In our paper (and SI more generally), we challenge perceptions of Georgia in scholarly debates as well as in public discourse, as being one of the states “in-between” Russian Federation and the European Union (EU). Similarly, we challenge perceptions of the breakaway region of Abkhazia as a mere appendage to Russia. Instead, we try to analyze the forging of Georgia’s and Abkhazia’s strategic paths as much more complex processes than are often assumed.

Featured Image

Photo by Sheldon Kennedy on Unsplash

Photo by Sheldon Kennedy on Unsplash

Why is it important?

In a context defined by the most recent crisis in Russia–West relations over the war in Ukraine, we think it has become particularly important to explore actorness and agency in one of the strategic regions both for Russia and the EU – South Caucasus. In the case of Georgia, we do this by examining the strategic triangle of Georgia, the EU and Russia; in the case of Abkhazia, within the Abkhazia–Georgia–Russia triangle. Our aim is to further expand the scope of analysis in two directions: first, by exploring what actors are shaping Georgia’s and Abkhazia’s strategic orientation, and second, by examining how these actors operate and interact in forging these entities’ strategic paths. We believe that by doing this, we provide a far more nuanced analysis, and understanding, of this key region.

Perspectives