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Protests

Struggle for the Rioni Valley in between Political and Civil Society terrains

The introduction of Lela Rekhviashvili’s book Struggle for the Rioni Valley in between Political and Civil Society Terrains: Contested Infrastructures and Development Politics, published in Georgian by Heinrich Böll Foundation. Who can resist capitalism today and how? Who can resist capitalism in Georgia or in other peripheral countries of Eastern Europe and Eurasia, where the […]

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A Louder Periphery: Guardians of the Rioni Valley against the “Namakhvani Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP)”

“When it’s so many of us here together, we can afford to say that we don’t need a bloodshed or throwing stones to win this fight. We should all get used to the fact that our fight is long-lasting, it cannot be resolved quickly. The government should know that we will win this war with […]

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Questioning dominant accounts of Chinese investments in Eastern Europe and Eurasia

I am no expert of Chinese infrastructure investments in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. I have only been systematically going through existing research on the topic lately to find, much to my disappointment, that most of academic discourse on the topic (let alone media and political narratives) is devoid of critical approaches (exceptions apply, see: Gambino, […]

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Exporting Georgia’s Anti-Corruption reforms to Ukraine; What makes them worth replicating?

“Georgians to the Rescue in Ukraine” “Georgians play key roles in pushing Ukraine’s reforms” “Ukraine’s New Cabinet Lineup Offers Broad Competence for Reforms” – these are just a few of the headlines telling us that Georgia’s post-revolutionary reformers have come to Ukraine to help out with reforms and that commentators are very optimistic about the […]

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Can the homeless accept charity from ‘gays’? On the role of the Church in Georgian Politics

The conservative and sometimes reactionary tendencies of the Orthodox Church in post-socialist countries are not news, but recently the Georgian church has gone so far as to target civil society actors doing charity work. As the cold winter approaches, civil society actors, particularly a group of independent feminists held a small rally a month ago […]