Changing Perceptions of the West in the South Caucasus: Adoration No More

by George Mchedlishvili

While perceptions of the West in the South Caucasus have deteriorated, renewed Western interest and engagement could help restore its reputation in the region.

Summary

  • In the late 1980s and early 1990s perceptions of the West in the three republics of the South Caucasus – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia – were almost uniformly positive. Such views largely reflected the West’s economic superiority and popular disillusionment with the Soviet experiment.
  • Perceptions changed as a result of a lack of Western political support for the new states in the early, difficult years after their independence in 1991. This significantly tarnished the image of the West – although it also lowered expectations, which hitherto had been unrealistically high.

Read the full article here:
https://www.chathamhouse.org/publication/changing-perceptions-west-south-caucasus-adoration-no-more