Georgia’s Threat Perceptions: Kornely Kakachia on a Country Between Russia and the EU

On October 14, CENTREPEACE held a public lecture at the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University. Kornely Kakachia, Professor of Political Science at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, spoke about Georgia’s threat perceptions between Russia and the EU. He was joined by Zinaida Bechná, assistant professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies, whose research focuses on Georgia and the South Caucasus.

The topic comes after a turbulent period in Georgia’s relations with the EU. The country received candidate status in December 2023, but the following year the EU froze its accession process after Georgia adopted a “foreign influence” law. In November 2024, the Georgian government said it would not seek to open accession talks until 2028.

The lecture first asked who is seen as a threat in Georgia, and how competing perceptions of Russia, the EU, and foreign influence shape both the country’s domestic politics and its international direction. Behind these perceptions sits a further question: who gets to define what counts as a threat in the first place.

It then turned to the narratives built on these perceptions. Appeals to peace and sovereignty can be used to legitimize political decisions, and the final part asked what those decisions mean for Georgian society, and whose security they actually protect.

We are very grateful to Kornely Kakachia for his presentation and for the great discussion that followed.