On Georgia's pivotal elections and its post-Soviet history.

[Full episode only for patrons]

Hans Gutbrod, who has been working in the Caucasus region since 1999 and now teaches at Ilia State University in Tblisi, talks to Alex about Georgia's choice between the EU and Russia. We discuss:

• Who is Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose wealth is equal to 1/4 of GDP?

• What is the ruling Georgian Dream's pitch to voters, and how has it turned 'rightward'?

• Did Georgia witness the end of history, or merely the de-development of the post-Soviet years?

• How has civil society become dominated by NGOs, and is this a problem?

• Can Georgia flourish in a multipolar world, acting as an entrepôt between East and West?

Links:

• In Georgia, a National Election Is a Geopolitical Struggle, Bryan Gigantino, Jacobin

• Telling Time the New Way: 17 Years of Reform, Hans Gutbrod, Civil Georgia

• Macbeth in the Caucasus: Omnipotence and Loneliness - Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream, Hans Gutbrod (PDF)