Kaukasiologie / Caucasus Studies Jena

📢It is our pleasure to share the newly published "Forum: Bridging divides—Georgia, the European Union, and the challenges of cooperation amid conflicts" with the contribution of our research associate Irena Gonashvili-Münch!

🤓In this special format, which is published at the journal Conflict and Cooperation, the non-linear dynamics of the Georgia–EU relationship are being examined. Focusing on various dimensions, such as geopolitics, civil society, territoral divides and policy sectors, the contributions analyse in particular how the relationship can be characterised since 2022 until today.

♻Irena Gonashvili-Münch's article analyses the Europeanization of waste management in Georgia and finds that up to 2023 "the perception of contractual obligation under the [European Union Association Agreement] and the common goal toward EU integration have served as a catalyst for reforms in waste management".

👥The Forum contains further contributions by Gaëlle Le Pavic, Elia Bescotti, Ana Andguladze, Ariane Bachelet, Aron Buzogány, Marek Carvell, Laure Delcour and Sofia Gavrilova. Congratulations to all authors on the publication!

📰The Forum articles are accessible via open access here:

Forum: Bridging divides—Georgia, the European Union, and the challenges of cooperation amid conflicts - Gaëlle Le Pavic, Elia Bescotti, Ana Andguladze, Ariane Bachelet, Aron Buzogány, Marek Carvell, Laure Delcour, Sofia Gavrilova, Irena... This forum examines the recent evolution of the relationship between Georgia and the European Union (EU), which has developed over the past 35 years. In Decembe...

🎙 New interview with our research associate Veronika Pfeilschifter for E-International Relations (interviewer and editor: Laura Innocenti). In this interview, she talks about her work on sociology of youth and the New Left in the South Caucasus.

Read the interview here: https://www.e-ir.org/p/interview-veronika-pfeilschifter

Interview – Veronika Pfeilschifter Veronika Pfeilschifter discusses her work on the sociology of youth, the New Left, and the South Caucasus.

📢🥳We are delighted to share a new publication by our research associate Tiffany G. Williams "All about the “meta”: metamodernism, metacrisis, and the Euro-Atlantic Zeitenwende" in Frontiers in Political Science!

This new article proposes that metamodernism, conceived as a "paradigm of continuous oscillation between systems and ideologies" offers an appropriate conceptual vocabulary for analyzing the inherent complexities and uncertainties of today's metacrisis. Examining the political responses of Germany and the United States to Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the article argues that both countries "are engaged in an ongoing, multidimensional negotiation between past and present, domestic and international, policy and identity."

You can read the article (in open access) here:

Frontiers | All about the “meta”: metamodernism, metacrisis, and the Euro-Atlantic Zeitenwende Metacrisis describes the convergence of multiple, concurring crisis events with global or regional relevance. This article argues that metacrisis is not a cl...

📣We are pleased to announce the publication of a new article "Sitting on Two Chairs: Armenia’s Foreign Policy Through the Lenses of National Roles and Small State Status-Seeking" by Eduard Abrahamyan (University College London), our research associate Erik Davtyan (FSU Jena) and Narek S. Galstyan (Yerevan State University) in Europe-Asia Studies!

By combining role theory and the concept of status-seeking, the article analyses Armenia's foreign policy between 2008 and 2023. Focusing on political elite behavior, the article finds that the choice and transformation of the country's foreign policy is a function of exogenous factors.

The article is now available at:

Sitting on Two Chairs: Armenia’s Foreign Policy Through the Lenses of National Roles and Small State Status-Seeking By reconciling role theory with the concept of status-seeking, this article examines the national roles and international status Armenia has pursued in its foreign policy. While role theory helps t...

Joint Conference of ილიას სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი • Ilia State University and Universitätsallianz Ruhr - UA Ruhr : “Sustaining Academic Freedom: Ilia State University and its Academic Partnership with Germany”

🔴 On July 𝟳–𝟴, a two-day conference titled “Sustaining Academic Freedom: Ilia State University and its Academic Partnership with Germany” will be held in Essen, Germany. The event is organized through a partnership between the University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr) Liaison Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Ilia State University.

▪️ The primary objective of the conference is to bring together Georgian and German academics, alongside institutional partners, to examine issues surrounding academic freedom and to explore avenues for supporting higher education in Georgia. The event will be hosted by the College for Social Sciences and Humanities of the University Alliance Ruhr.

▪️ The conference will open with welcoming remarks delivered by Professor Nino Doborjginidze, Rector of Ilia State University, and Professor Martin Paul, Rector of the Ruhr University Bochum.

Core Program Tracks:

July 7 - Academic Freedom and Higher Education Policy

Professor Giga Zedania, Director of the Center for Advanced Studies at Ilia State University, will present an overview of the current landscape within the Georgian education system. This will be followed by a panel discussion entitled “Safeguarding Academic Freedom: Georgia, Europe, and Authoritarian Dynamics,” featuring professors from Ilia State University and international researchers.

July 8 - Specific Actions and Academic Cooperation

The second day will focus on funding opportunities for German-Georgian academic cooperation and will feature concurrent working sessions. Workshops will be structured around four thematic tracks: Humanities and Social Sciences, Exact and Natural Sciences, Academic and Financial Support Programs, Institutional Partnerships.

Prior registration is required to attend the conference. Interested participants may register via the following link: https://eveeno.com/272391188

Last weekend ილიას სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი • Ilia State University hosted The Tbilisi Debate on Europe where writers, scholars and journalists gathered to confront urgent questions of freedom, history and democracy. The guiding question of the debate was, looking from Georgia, what is at stake for Europe today?
https://www.debates-on-europe.eu/doe-tbilisi/

📣 – Visiting Fellowships on International Law and Politics in the South Caucasus

We invite applications for up to two Visiting Fellowships in the DAAD-funded project "Contested Spaces, Fragmented Orders: International Law in the South Caucasus", carried out jointly with the Faculty of Law at Yerevan State University.

Fellows pursue an individual research project on themes such as the politics of international law, contested sovereignty, authoritarian legal strategies, and hybrid conflicts in the South Caucasus and the wider post-Soviet region. During their stay in Regensburg, they take part in the institute's academic life, contribute to co-teaching, and develop at least one article-length text. They also help prepare the International Autumn School in Yerevan (30 September – 10 October 2026).

The fellowships include a stipend of up to €2,150 per month plus a travel allowance of €825. Stays last one to three months and must be completed by 15 December 2026. Applicants hold a PhD, are at an advanced stage of doctoral research, or are experienced professionals, and should be affiliated with a recognized institution in Armenia or hold equivalent qualifications.

📅 Deadline: 20 June 2026
➡️ https://leibniz-ios.de/en/knowledge-transfer/news/newsdetail/cfa-visiting-fellows-programm-2026-contested-spaces-fragmented-orders-international-law-and-politics-in-the-south-caucasus

📣CfP for the International Conference organized by Max weber stiftung, Tbilisi, 5-7 October 2026: Global Caricatures, Cultural Misunderstandings, and the Visual Mediation of the World

Submission deadline: 10 June 2026

📢 Call for Applications – Global Caricatures, Cultural Misunderstandings, and the Visual Mediation of the World

Date: October 5-7, 2026

Submission Deadline: June 10, 2026

Organized by Max Weber Foundation – Georgia Branch Office and the Global History of Caricatures Network

The conference explores caricature and visual satire as central media of global interpretation. Moving beyond approaches that treat caricatures merely as illustrations of political opinion, the conference conceptualizes caricature as an epistemic medium that actively shaped social imaginaries, mediated cultural encounters, and generated forms of political and cultural knowledge.

We invite proposals addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
▪️ Global circulation of caricatures and visual tropes
▪️ Caricature and the mediation of global news
▪️ Cultural misunderstanding and visual translation
▪️ Satire, empire, and colonial visuality
▪️ Caricature in imperial peripheries and semi-peripheries
▪️ Transnational visual repertoires
▪️ Illustrated periodicals and global modernity
▪️ Caricature and nationalism
▪️ Visualizations of the “Other”
▪️ Caricature and multilingual publics
▪️ Visual satire and revolutionary movements
▪️ Comparative histories of satirical journals
▪️ Image transfer between Europe, the Ottoman world, the Caucasus, and colonial contexts
▪️ Caricature and race, class, gender, and religion
▪️ Visual humor and censorship
▪️ Digital humanities approaches to caricature archives
▪️ Theoretical approaches to visual media and social imaginaries

We especially welcome contributions that combine textual and visual analysis, comparative perspectives, or multilingual corpora.

Please submit:
▪️ Abstract (300–500 words)
▪️ Short biographical note (max. 150 words)
▪️ Institutional affiliation
▪️ Contact information

Please indicate in your application whether you need financial support for your participation.

Deadline for submissions is June 10, 2026. Applicants will be informed about our decision and further details on June 15, 2026.
Participants will be notified until the end of May.

✉️ Please send your proposals to [email protected].

🔎 Read the full CfA here: https://mwsgeorgia.hypotheses.org/13425