On March 26-27, Georgia hosted an International high level conference “Spirit of Democracy – Enabling Foreign, Economic and Security Policy Choices in the Region”.
The Forum provided a unique platform for its participants to share experience and best practices with democratic leaders in the region and from around the world. It convened Stanford faculty and CDDRL alumni, leaders and high profile representatives from the Georgian government, the civil society, the academic community and the private sector from the United States, NATO, Georgia, and other participating countries to share their experiences related to building a modern, open, stable liberal democracy.
Conference participants included political leadership and economic and security experts from the region and strategic partner countries. Larry Diamond, CDDRL Director, presented on challenges to democratization globally and in the region; Stephen Krasner – Stanford University, Deputy Director of FSI were key note speakers of the conference;
The conference aimed to facilitate a healthy debate about necessary steps to address existing security challenges without compromising democratic values.
This was the second international high level conference organized in Tbilisi jointly by Economic Policy Research Center and Stanford Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL). The first conference was titled The Future of Democratization: Lessons of Building a Modern State in 21st Century-Georgia
The conference was attended by 30 regional leaders drawn from Stanford University’s Leadership Forum, Stanford University’s leading experts on state building and political reforms – Francis Fukuyama – Senior Fellow CDDRL and Stanford Professor – Erik Jensen.
The two days Leadership Forum was supported by Open Society Georgia Foundation, NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division, the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, and Omidyar Network.
TV Channel Tabula hosted Larry Diamond,CDDRL Director.
Background information:
Source: EPRC press release
Georgia and its neighbors are facing a renewed challenge on the way to democratization. These challenges are related to many factors, some of which include geopolitical location and conflicting strategic interests of the neighborhood countries, poorly developed security strategies, existential problems fueled with intertwined territorial conflicts, the recent emergence and spread of the so called ISIS, etc.
Every state building experiment takes place in the broader global context and Georgia is no exception. Three regional vectors shape the international context within which Georgian people are building their country. The North-South vector brings Georgia in a direct contact with its northern neighbor, and its geopolitical designs in respect to the called “special sphere of influence”. Georgia’s continues development will depend on the development of relationships along this vector, which currently represents a real security challenge for the country. The United States, as well as the international community stands beside Georgia in its quest of security and stability. The second vector is the economic and the energy bridge between the East and the West – the new Silk Road that passes through the country, with its ports, highways, railways, and the pipelines for hydrocarbon delivery to the western markets. The third is a dangerous new vector emerging between the northern Caucasus and Syria and Iraq. The recent emergence and spread of the so called ISIS have global and regional repercussions. Security threats related to terrorism affect Georgia as well, as a full-fledged member of the international community
Despite conflicting strategic interests of the neighborhood countries, the region has experienced democratization during 2003-2013, but came across existential problems first in 2008 (Russian invasion of Georgia) and later in 2013 (Russian Occupation of Crimea); These recent developments created a need to adjust to new security threats and create strategies that will resist the pressure of turning away from democratization agenda.
EPRC, with close collaboration with the Stanford University’s Center on Democracy Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), will organize a two day conference to analyze recent
developments in the region and discuss strategies to minimize security risks and threats to democratization.
