CRRC, ARISC and American Councils are proud to present the 5th talk of the 2021 Spring Series of the Tbilisi Works-in-Progress series!****Given the continuing COVID19 situation, the Works-in-Progress sessions will continue in virtual format until further notice. To register for the event and automatically receive the Zoom info, click on the link below****
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZIud…
“A Monocrat’s Hobby & its Power: On Shadow Politics in Georgia
By Lika Tsuladze, Tbilisi State University and the Center for Social Sciences
Date: March 31, 2021, at 18:30 Tbilisi time
This project focuses on the enactment of shadow politics in Georgia with a shadow actor setting the agenda from the political backstage, which is demonstrated based on two recent environmental cases. Dr. Tsuladze shows, on the one hand, how a shadow actor strategically uses both visible and invisible power for informal land appropriation and construction, including the purchasing and transportation of century-old trees, while on the other hand how the authorities challenge environmental NGOs and activists resisting the monocrat’s “hobby” by politicizing their protest actions.
Lia (Lika) Tsuladze is Associate Professor of Sociology at Tbilisi State University and the Executive Director of the Center for Social Sciences. She is the author of more than 25 publications and 3 textbooks. Her research interests involve Georgia’s Europeanization, issues related to national identity, and civil activism. Currently she heads a Research WP for a Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Actions project entitled “Mediatized EU: Mediatized Discourses on Europeanization and their Representations in Public Opinion,” targeting the elite-media-public triangle in seven countries of the EU and the EaP. Her new book Post-Visa Liberalization Discourses on Georgia’s Europeanization (co-authored with F. Esebua and I. Osepashvili) is published by Nekeri in 2021, and she has new articles in Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, in B. Radeljić (ed.). The Unwanted Europeanness? Understanding Division and Inclusion in Contemporary Europe, and in Caucasus Survey (the latter is the basis for this presentation and was supported by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (MSCA-RISE) within the H2020 Programme under the grant SHADOW [no: 778118]; H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.).https://www.tandfonline.com/…/10…/23761199.2020.1871564
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Although this presentation will take place in virtual format, in observation of the spirit of the Chatham House Rule to which the series generally adheres, the talk will not be recorded and we courteously request that the other participants refrain from recording and/or distributing it as well. The opinions expressed in WiP talks are those of the speakers alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of CRRC, ARISC or of American Councils.
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WiP is an ongoing academic discussion series based in Tbilisi, Georgia, that normally takes place at the new office of CRRC at Liziko Kavtaradze St. 1. It is co-organized by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), the American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS, and the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC). All of the talks are free and open to the public.