"After my two decades-long experience in the Georgian diplomatic
service and personal involvement in many foreign policy turning points
and events taking place in Georgia, I considered it necessary to write
a paper related to Georgian foreign policy making. Shortly after my
retirement from the foreign ministry and my engagement in academic
activities, it reinforced my conviction to write a study explaining the
foreign policy anatomy and offering insight into the dynamic of related
ongoing processes. Besides, as a lecturer in Georgian Foreign Policy,
I was inspired by my students who were faced with a great lack of
academic literature in the subject. This book, which is built on some of
my earlier articles and works (Chapters 1, 4 and 6 have been revised,
updated and expanded) as well as my personal notes and archives,
was conceived as a complementary work for students of international
relations, researchers and persons interested in this fi eld. Of course,
I cannot consider myself original in this undertaking: before me there
were a few other attempts to analyse Georgia’s behaviour internationally.
What little literature there is in this direction, however, is mostly focused
on political reporting and a descriptive analysis of historical events and
processes and does not contain a full range of academic approaches
and methodologies, which can more thoroughly explain the whole
sequence of events as well as the mechanisms of Georgia’s foreign
policy making for the past 30 years".

In view of the fact that a large amount of material has been processed,
the result has been a hefty tome, which we intend to publish as a twovolume
book. In particular, in the fi rst volume we discuss internal and
external determinants infl uencing foreign policy making. If we turn to
internal causes, we should fi rst mention such signifi cant factors as
leaders, national identity and the Orthodox Church, the nation’s European
and Euro-Atlantic aspirations, security policy and elaborated strategies,
etc. On the other hand, the study takes note of existing external factors
such as Russia, the regional geopolitical and global environment and
how the West oversees and guides the development of Georgian state
building. The second volume will address Georgia’s bilateral relations
fi rst of all with the United States, and neighbouring states as well as
regional dominant powers. In addition, the work will shed light on
8 Georgia’s place in the modern international system, emphasizing the
need for mobilisation of international support and efforts on restoration
of territorial integrity of the country, and its involvement in international
trade and economic diplomacy. We hope that the book will be a handy
tool and provide a useful introduction to those seeking to understand
the ways the Georgian foreign policy machine has been working since
independence."
Amiran Kavadze
April, 2020