RUSI JournalVOLUME 170ISSUE 3

Strategic Culture, Selective Compliance: Georgia's Foreign Policy Paradox

Tbilisi celebrates EU candidate status, December 2023. Georgia’s strategic identity was formed around both principles of fearing Russian power and a narrative of European linkages and Euro-Atlantic affinities. Courtesy of Jelger Groeneveld/Wikimedia Commons

Tbilisi celebrates EU candidate status, December 2023. Georgia’s strategic identity was formed around principles of fearing Russian power and a narrative of European linkages and Euro-Atlantic affinities. Courtesy of Jelger Groeneveld/Wikimedia Commons


Despite having a Western-orientated strategic culture, Georgia’s foreign policy behaviour is also being influenced by other geopolitical and cultural factors.

Behaviours and tendencies in Georgian foreign policy can be explained by identifying prevailing streams in Georgian strategic culture. Michael Cecire considers trilateral cooperation with Turkey and Azerbaijan as a case study. He finds that Georgian strategic culture is primarily Western-orientated. However, Georgia’s strategic cultural attachment to the West does not mean that it fully adheres to Western norms, nor is it clearly engaging in utility-maximising behaviour. As such, despite amity to the West, Georgian foreign policy may diverge from that of its core Euro-Atlantic partners.

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WRITTEN BY

Michael Hikari Cecire

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