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Rusudan Zabakhidze is a fellow with MEI’s Frontier Europe Initiative and a research development consultant for Council for European Studies at Columbia University (CES). In this capacity, she coordinates the annual International Conference of Europeanists, CES Digital Hub, and CES Insights webinar series. Previously, Rusudan briefly worked at Open Society Foundation’s Eurasia Program in London, UK.
Rusudan has vast experience working with civil-society organizations in Georgia focusing on the issues of democratization, conflict transformation, European Integration, and non-formal education. Rusudan has completed visiting research fellowships at the Embassy of Georgia to Ireland, Council for European Studies, and GLOBSEC – a Bratislava based think tank. Rusudan obtained her MSc in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies from the University of Glasgow, Dublin City University, and Charles University in Prague with a specialization in strategic studies. She holds a BA in International Relations from Tbilisi State University. Rusudan has also been an Erasmus exchange student at the Department of European Studies at Comenius University in Bratislava.
United States partnerships with Georgia and Ukraine: Prospects for advancing military cooperation
A spotlight has been cast over the Black Sea region for the past two decades. Located at the geopolitical junction of Western Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, the Black Sea littoral states have partnered with Western powers on global counterinsurgency and anti-terrorism efforts. Simultaneously, the Black Sea region continues to face insecurities triggered by enduring great power competition. The importance of stability in the Black Sea region has long been recognized by the West.
Continuity and change in America’s military partnership with Ukraine
The 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea and conflict in the Eastern region of Donbas not only breached commitments made by Russia as a signatory of the Budapest Memorandum twenty years earlier, but also tested the ability of the U.S. and U.K to guarantee peace in Ukraine and hold the aggressor accountable for its malevolent actions.
Georgian Defense Forces: The role of military partnerships
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, an independent Georgia found itself challenged by the separatist movements backed by the Russian Federation in the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions, leading to civil war in the early 1990s.
