Co-Editor
Dr. Tornike Sharashenidze is professor and Head of the Master’s in International Affairs at GIPA. He worked as an international politics and business analyst for Resonance and 24 Saati (1996-2002), He also served as an analyst for the National Security Council of Georgia (2004-2005); Prime Minister’s assistant for foreign policy issues (2005); Director of the Information Center on NATO (2006). He holds an MPA and Ph.D. in Political Sciences from GIPA. He joined GIPA in 2006. Dr. Sharashenidze is a regular contributor to Caucasus Analytical Digest and European Council on Foreign Relations. In addition to GIPA, he also teaches at the Civil and Political School in Kiev. He is an author of the first original Georgian books on Europe’s diplomatic history.
Co-Editor
Giorgi Koberidze
Editorial Board
Dr. Merab Kakulia is a Georgian economist, Senior Fellow at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS), Professor of the School of Law and Politics at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA). He was the Editor in Chief of Georgian Economic Trends (GET) from 2005 to 2009. Dr. Kakulia served as Vice-President of the National Bank of Georgia from 1993 to 2005 and was actively engaged in overcoming the country’s hyperinflation, the introduction of the national currency, Georgian Lari, and the formation of the modern banking sector in Georgia. Dr. Kakulia graduated in Economics from Tbilisi State University in 1983, earned his Ph.D. from the Moscow State University in 1986 and a Doctor of Science degree from Melkadze Scientific Research Institute of the Economic and Social Problems (Tbilisi, Georgia) in 2002. Dr. Kakulia’s extensive professional experience is reflected in his publications on Macroeconomics, Banking and Finance, International Economics, and Transitional Economics. He is a Member of the Georgian Academy of Economic Sciences and Executive Secretary of the Scientific Committee for Economics of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Bakur Kvashilava holds a Doctor of Social Sciences degree from GIPA and a Master of International Relations from Yale University. Since 2005, he has delivered lectures on International Relations Theory and Comparative Politics at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA). After the creation of the School of Law and Politics in 2007 he became the Dean of the School.During 1999-2000, Mr. Kvashilava worked at the Office of Foreign Policy Analysis in the Administration of the President of Georgia. During 2004-2005, he was a representative of the American multinational oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil in Georgia. Before joining GIPA, he worked at the OSCE Mission in Georgia. Besides International Relations Theory and Comparative Politics, his academic interests also include political risk analysis, regimes’ transformation, and policy analysis. In this regard, he regularly collaborates with major organizations in Georgia concentrated on international relations and politics. Together with other researchers, he is the co-founder of the Association of International Relations.
Vasil Sikharulidze is a Georgian diplomat scholar. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Atlantic Council of Georgia in Tbilisi, Georgia. He worked as a foreign affairs advisor to the President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili from August 27, 2009. Previously, he served as Ambassador to the United States (2006-2008) and Georgia’s Minister of Defense (2008-2009). In 2011 he graduated from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government. Mr. Sikharulidze graduated from Tbilisi State Medical University in 1993 and practiced psychiatry from 1993 to 1995. After a brief tenure as an Executive Director of the Atlantic Council of Georgia, an umbrella organization that brings together Georgian NGOs working on Euro-Atlantic integration issues, Sikharulidze worked for the Parliament of Georgia as a leading specialist on defense and security issues from 1996 to 2000. He headed the NATO division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia from 2000 to 2002 and served as a deputy head of the Georgian Mission of NATO in Brussels. He also worked for the National Security Council of Georgia in 2004 and served as a Deputy Minister of Defense in the years 2005-2006.
David Aprasidze is the Head of Administration and professor at Ilia State University. During 2008-2010 he served at Ilia State University as the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences and Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Previously he held the position of the Rector of the Police Academy and Director of the Archive at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. In 2009 Dr. Aprasidze was a Fullbright Scholar at Duke University, USA. In earlier years he headed the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy, and Development and Regional Bureau of Konrad-Adenauer Foundation to Georgia and South Caucasus. In 2006 he was an acting Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Studies and lecturer at Tbilisi State University. During various years Dr. Aprasidze worked in State Television, Georgian Public Broadcasting, as a political talk-show anchor and director of several TV programs. He is the author of numerous academic and research papers published in various European scientific journals. Dr. Aprasidze holds degrees in Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Hamburg, Institute for Peace Study and Security Policy and International Relations (MA) from Tbilisi State University.
Dr. Jonathan Harrington is a Full Professor at Troy University. An experienced teacher and expert on comparative politics and international development, Dr. Harrington has been educating students and the public about the challenges and rewards of comprehensive development strategies for more than 15 years. He earned his undergraduate degree in History at Grinnell College and his Ph.D. in Political Science from Loyola University of Chicago. Conversant in Mandarin, Dr. Harrington has spent many years living and working in East Asia and has travelled to more than 40 countries. He has hosted, organized, and spoken at international conferences in China, Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Slovenia, Canada, and the United States. Dr. Harrington has published in a number of academic journals including Selected Papers in Asian Studies, The Journal of Environment and Development, Problems of Post Communism, Scandinavian Journal of Development Alternatives and Area Studies, China Review International, the International Journal on World Peace, The Public Manager, The Southeastern Review of Asian Studies and Religion and Society. He has also published a number of book chapters and has been interviewed by numerous press outlets including CBC Radio One, Newsweek and MSNBC.com. He recently completed a well-reviewed book entitled The Climate Diet published by Earthscan/James and James, one of the world’s leading publishers of books on the environment and sustainable development, which has been sold in more than 60 countries, has been collected by more than 700 libraries and has been translated into Korean.