Papers by Levan Makhashvili
Conflicts have become an integral part of and a common phenomenon in international relations over... more Conflicts have become an integral part of and a common phenomenon in international relations over last two decades. The European continent has been no exception in this regard. The European Union, a supranational organization established to prevent further devastating wars between the continent’s major powers, has been struggling since its very foundation to prevent the escalation of violent behavior of countries or to manage and mediate the already existing conflicts. Throughout this period, it has witnessed many brutal confrontations nearby its borders, including eruptions of fierce fighting after the collapse of Yugoslavia, bloody Kosovo war, the 2008 Georgia-Russia war, and the Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine. These tensions left five of the six Eastern Partnership countries with territorial conflicts, where the EU has been involved with varying degree. Taking into consideration that the conflicts have been an pressing issue for so many societies and one of the main hinde...
The European integration has drastically intensified in several European Union’s Eastern Partners... more The European integration has drastically intensified in several European Union’s Eastern Partnership countries over recent several years, demonstrated clearly in groundbreaking agreements, decisions and initiatives, seen by these countries as a credible solution to their problems, including to the long-standing conflicts. Not surprisingly, so has the anti-Western rhetoric orchestrated by Russia. The anti-Western Russian information war raised the risks and threats of national security. Furthermore, by aiming at splitting societies and influencing governmental or EU calculations, it can and does hamper the EU’s active and fast engagement in its Eastern neighborhood. This paper will explore how Russia utilizes the anti-Western information campaign in the EU and the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries and what can be done to
Nedávny vývoj v krajinách Východného partnerstva, vrátane rastúcich agresívnych vojenských akcií ... more Nedávny vývoj v krajinách Východného partnerstva, vrátane rastúcich agresívnych vojenských akcií Ruska, stupňovanie násilia, vzplanutie nových konfliktov a obnova starých, podrobilo manažment konfliktov EÚ väznému testu. V dôsledku nových okolností sa stalo kriticky nutné zhodnotiť minulé záväzky EÚ v riešení konfliktov a preskúmať silné a slabé stránky v jej prístupe, ktorý môže byť použitý ako vodítko pre budúce aktivity riešenia konfliktov. Tento článok posudzuje názory a vnímanie politikov prostredníctvom dopytovania insiderov v Berlíne. Obzvlášť, výskumné otázky uvažujú o tom, akým spôsobom politici v Berlíne posudzujú účinnosť manažmentu konfliktov a mediácie EÚ v Gruzínsku a Moldavsku. Bola Európska únia úspešná pri riadení alebo sprostredkovaní konfliktov v týchto krajinách? Ako sa môžu aktivity EÚ zlepšiť? Kľúčové slová: Európska únia, manažment konfliktov, Gruzínsko, Moldavsko, vnímanie
Journal of International Relations, 2013
The Geneva Talks – a negotiations’ framework founded after the EU brokered ‘Cease-Fire Agreement’... more The Geneva Talks – a negotiations’ framework founded after the EU brokered ‘Cease-Fire Agreement’ ending the dramatic August 2008 war between Georgia and Russia – has brought only marginal progress. It is thus striking why the European Union could not make the Geneva Talks a successful story. The paper discusses the EU instruments and mediation types to explain the failure. The analysis reveals that the EU mediation styles have been only partially effective. It also demonstrates that EU conditionality and social learning have failed to succeed because of a strong ‘patron’ state in the region – Russia. The examination further suggests that the separatists merely and strategically socialize themselves to get more benefits rather than to internally change their deep-rooted interests. The paper thus concludes that because of these shortcomings the EU has been incapable of pushing the negotiations to a successful end.
Journal of International Relations, 2017
Recent developments in the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries, including Russia’s increasingl... more Recent developments in the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries, including Russia’s increasingly aggressive actions and military adventurism, escalation of violence, inflammation of new conflicts and renewal of the old ones, have put the EU conflict management abilities to a serious test. As a result of these novel circumstances, it has become critically necessary to evaluate the EU’s past engagements in conflict management and examine the strengths and weaknesses in its approach, which can be used as guidelines for the Union’s future conflict management activities. This article will look to gauge the opinions and perceptions of policy and decision makers by interviewing the Berlin insiders. In particular, the research questions consider how policy shapers and decision makers in Berlin perceive the effectiveness of the EU conflict management and mediation in Georgia and Moldova. Was the EU successful in managing or mediating the conflicts in these countries? How can the EU act...
Recent novel internal and international developments in the region, not least the accelerated vio... more Recent novel internal and international developments in the region, not least the accelerated violence and Russian aggression, signing of the Association Agreements with the European Union as well as the so called “partnership agreements” between Russia and Georgia’s breakaway regions, have brought necessity to originally reevaluate the Union’s instruments in the conflicts in Georgia. The paper will evaluate the Association Agreement in terms of conflict resolution in Georgia by answering the following questions: does the AA provide new instruments enabling Georgia to effectively implement confidence-building measures? Does it empower the existing mechanisms? How does it surpass the so called agreements between Russia and Georgia’s breakaway regions in terms of effectiveness and flexibility? Is it a step forward to the peaceful solution or another beautiful cloth on the same body? What are perspectives of the AA in this regard and what are challenges that still lie ahead? Academical...
Conflicts have become an integral part of and a common phenomenon in international relations over... more Conflicts have become an integral part of and a common phenomenon in international relations over last two decades. The European continent has been no exception in this regard. The European Union, a supranational organization established to prevent further devastating wars between the continent's major powers, has been struggling since its very foundation to prevent the escalation of violent behavior of countries or to manage and mediate the already existing conflicts. Throughout this period, it has witnessed many brutal confrontations nearby its borders, including eruptions of fierce fighting after the collapse of Yugoslavia, bloody Kosovo war, the 2008 Georgia-Russia war, and the Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine. These tensions left five of the six Eastern Partnership countries with territorial conflicts, where the EU has been involved with varying degree. Taking into consideration that the conflicts have been an pressing issue for so many societies and one of the main hindering factors of the countries' development, it is interesting to academically investigate what is conflict management, what is international mediation, and what is the EU doing in these fields, what is the EU experience in conflict management and mediation processes? Being a complex bureaucracy, it is usually difficult for practitioners and representatives of governmental, non-governmental and international organizations to identify those EU bodies, structures and instruments that were developed to address the conflicts effectively. In this regard, the information demonstrated in this paper will be productive and contribute to the societal relevance of the research. For these purposes, first section of the paper will review the academic scholarship on the aspects of conflict management. Second section will consider mediation, its characteristics as well as factors affecting the mediation. Third part will be dedicated to the discussion of the EU involvement in conflict management and mediation processes, relevant EU bodies and instruments.
Recent novel internal and international development s in the region, not least the accelerated vi... more Recent novel internal and international development s in the region, not least the accelerated violence and Russian aggression, signing of the Association Agreements with the European Union as well as the so called “partnership agreements” between Russia and Georgia’s breakaway regions, have brought necessity to originally reevaluate the Union’s instruments in the conflicts in Georgia.
The paper will evaluate the Association Agreement in terms of conflict resolution in Georgia by answering the following questions: does the AA provide new instruments enabling Georgia to effectively implement confidence-building measures? Does it empower the existing mechanisms? How does it surpass the so called agreements between Russia and Georgia’s breakaway regions in terms of effectiveness and flexibility? Is it a step forward to the peaceful solution or another beautiful cloth on the same body? What are perspectives of the AA in this regard and what are challenges that still lie ahead?
Academically, this research will contribute to the practical and theoretical debates about the role of EU as an international actor in promoting conflict resolution in its Eastern neighborhood. From a policy perspective, the study will provide updated empirical findings on the EU mechanisms and instruments for the conflicts in Georgia. The research will be beneficial for country leaders, official practitioners, experts and NGO representatives in improving their working policies, thus contributing to the societal relevance of the research.
Apart from the content analysis, the essay will seek to answer the research questions by interviewing the governmental officials of Georgia, de-facto Abkhaz authorities, European diplomats and NGO representatives working on the conflict resolution processes.
The European integration has drastically intensified in several European Union's Eastern Partners... more The European integration has drastically intensified in several European Union's Eastern Partnership countries over recent several years, demonstrated clearly in groundbreaking agreements, decisions and initiatives, seen by these countries as a credible solution to their problems, including to the long-standing conflicts. Not surprisingly, so has the anti-Western rhetoric orchestrated by Russia. The anti-Western Russian information war raised the risks and threats of national security. Furthermore, by aiming at splitting societies and influencing governmental or EU calculations, it can and does hamper the EU's active and fast engagement in its Eastern neighborhood. This paper will explore how Russia utilizes the anti-Western information campaign in the EU and the EU's Eastern Partnership countries and what can be done to counter it
Recent developments in the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries, including Russia’s increasingly ag... more Recent developments in the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries, including Russia’s increasingly aggressive actions and military adventurism, escalation of violence, inflammation of new conflicts and renewal of the old ones, have put the EU conflict management abilities to a serious test. As a result of these novel circumstances, it has become critically necessary to evaluate the EU’s past engagements in conflict management and examine the strengths and weaknesses in its approach, which can be used as guidelines for the Union’s future conflict management activities. This article will look to gauge the opinions and perceptions of policy and decision makers by interviewing the Berlin insiders. In particular, the research questions consider how policy shapers and decision makers in Berlin perceive the effectiveness of the EU conflict management and mediation in Georgia and Moldova. Was the EU successful in managing or mediating the conflicts in these countries? How can the EU activities be improved?
Medzinarodne Vztahy, 2013
Journal of Contemporary European Research, Jan 7, 2013
The regulations granting the establishment of EU agencies were meant to ensure institutional inde... more The regulations granting the establishment of EU agencies were meant to ensure institutional independence in order to insulate everyday decision-making from political pressure, vested interests and political short-termism. However, recent events, including managerial resignations and the introduction of new rules concerning conflicts of interest, have brought renewed attention to the autonomy/independence debate. This article goes beyond the traditional de jure/de facto dichotomy of approaches to approaching the question of independence to consider perceptions of agency staff. It seeks to gauge the opinions of members of the European Medicine Agency's Management Board with regard to agency autonomy, distinguishing between four types of independence: legal, financial, administrative, decision-making. It draws on data collected using questionnaires, and interpreted using the expert evaluation method, to rank the importance given to types of independence among sub-sets of stakeholders overseeing the EMA.
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Papers by Levan Makhashvili
The paper will evaluate the Association Agreement in terms of conflict resolution in Georgia by answering the following questions: does the AA provide new instruments enabling Georgia to effectively implement confidence-building measures? Does it empower the existing mechanisms? How does it surpass the so called agreements between Russia and Georgia’s breakaway regions in terms of effectiveness and flexibility? Is it a step forward to the peaceful solution or another beautiful cloth on the same body? What are perspectives of the AA in this regard and what are challenges that still lie ahead?
Academically, this research will contribute to the practical and theoretical debates about the role of EU as an international actor in promoting conflict resolution in its Eastern neighborhood. From a policy perspective, the study will provide updated empirical findings on the EU mechanisms and instruments for the conflicts in Georgia. The research will be beneficial for country leaders, official practitioners, experts and NGO representatives in improving their working policies, thus contributing to the societal relevance of the research.
Apart from the content analysis, the essay will seek to answer the research questions by interviewing the governmental officials of Georgia, de-facto Abkhaz authorities, European diplomats and NGO representatives working on the conflict resolution processes.
The paper will evaluate the Association Agreement in terms of conflict resolution in Georgia by answering the following questions: does the AA provide new instruments enabling Georgia to effectively implement confidence-building measures? Does it empower the existing mechanisms? How does it surpass the so called agreements between Russia and Georgia’s breakaway regions in terms of effectiveness and flexibility? Is it a step forward to the peaceful solution or another beautiful cloth on the same body? What are perspectives of the AA in this regard and what are challenges that still lie ahead?
Academically, this research will contribute to the practical and theoretical debates about the role of EU as an international actor in promoting conflict resolution in its Eastern neighborhood. From a policy perspective, the study will provide updated empirical findings on the EU mechanisms and instruments for the conflicts in Georgia. The research will be beneficial for country leaders, official practitioners, experts and NGO representatives in improving their working policies, thus contributing to the societal relevance of the research.
Apart from the content analysis, the essay will seek to answer the research questions by interviewing the governmental officials of Georgia, de-facto Abkhaz authorities, European diplomats and NGO representatives working on the conflict resolution processes.