Development Relations between the Visegrád Four and Georgia: Jumping on the Bandwagon?

Are the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia the “champions of democracy”?

Abstract

After the Revolution of Roses in 2003, Georgia emerged as the prime candidate for democratic institution building. The Visegrád countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), themselves emerging as new donors of foreign aid and as “champions of democracy” at the time, all showed strong interest in assisting the consolidation of Georgia’s new democracy, and have channelled relatively substantial amounts of aid to the country, both directly for supporting democratic institutions, but also for more “traditional” development projects. More than ten years have passed since, but no research has as of yet attempted to uncover the dynamics, actual contents, and relevance of V4 assistance to Georgia. The aim of the present paper therefore is to map V4 assistance to Georgia, and assess how well V4 aid was aligned with Georgia’s development priorities, and how relevant it was in strengthening Georgian democracy.

Speakers

Balázs Szent-Iványi (Aston University) 
Zsuzsanna Végh (Central European University)

There will be an opportunity for networking after the talk. PhD and MA researchers are strongly encouraged to attend.

The Social Sciences Building is number 82 on the campus map.