Bidzina Ivanishvili: Governing from the Shadows
By Gabriel Chubinidze and Stephen F. Jones
Ivanishvili is the linchpin in the current Georgian political system. If we are to understand the nature of Georgia’s political system today, we need to examine Ivanishvili's personality and history more closely. In Georgia, outsized personalities have always played a decisive role in politics and have consistently abused their power. Ivanishvili is no different. But we argue that he has gone beyond his predecessors, Eduard Shevardnadze and Mikheil Saakashvili, to create an illiberal and anti-European system which leaves no political space for either party opponents or civil society activists. Currently, almost all of Georgia’s major opposition party leaders are in prison. We call it a quasi-dictatorship. In 2025 Ivanishvili’s Georgia has moved closer to the model of Alexandr Lukashenko in Belarus than the illiberal model established in Hungary of Victor Orban.
Layers of Cooperation: The Gradual Institutionalization of Central Asian Cooperation
By Svante E. Cornell
The development of a spirit of regional cooperation has been the main political development in the Greater Central Asian region in recent years. This process is accelerating and taking place at different levels. Primary among the initiatives underway is the deepening of cooperation among the five states of Central Asia, where the consultative meetings of Heads of State are being insti- tutionalized and expanded into cooperation on the ministerial and parliamentary level, governed by strategies of cooperation adopted by regional leaders. Beyond this, more intensive structures of cooperation have been set up between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the leading states of the region. Furthermore, trilateral mechanisms have emerged, including one centered on the Fer- ghana Valley involving Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as a Trans-Caspian tri- lateral involving Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Taken together, these mechanisms of cooperation at different levels and involving different partners suggest a rapdly evolving coop- erative spirit across the region, undergirded by an emerging common identity.
Read Layers of Cooperation: The Gradual Institutionalization of Central Asian Cooperation
Georgia’s Spiral towards Authoritarianism: Can it be Brought Back from the Brink?
By Alex Scrivener
In over six months after disputed parliamentary elections, Georgia’s democracy is on life support. The ruling Georgian Dream party is moving towards full authoritarianism at breakneck speed, passing a battery of laws that threaten the very existence of independent civil society. Party leaders regularly threaten to go even further and institute an outright ban on much of the opposition.
Read Georgia’s Spiral towards Authoritarianism: Can it be Brought Back from the Brink?
Armenia’s Corridor Toward Regional Stability
John DiPirro
July 25, 2025
Armenia stands at a critical crossroads as it seeks to break free from Russian influence and integrate with the West. Following recent peace talks with Azerbaijan in Abu Dhabi and the proposed U.S.-overseen Zangezur Corridor, Armenia has a unique opportunity to transform its geopolitical position. The nation must navigate four key strategic priorities: normalizing relations with Turkey despite historical tensions over the Armenian Genocide, accelerating EU and NATO integration while strengthening democratic institutions, developing strategic industries including defense manufacturing partnerships with Europe, and leveraging the Zangezur corridor to deepen ties with India as an emerging defense partner. With the pivotal 2026 parliamentary elections approaching and Russia intensifying hybrid attacks to destabilize the government, Armenia's choices will determine whether it consolidates as a democratic, pro-Western anchor or reverts to dependence and instability.
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