On May 16, 2017, Georgian Institute of Politics hosted the international conference – “Georgia at the Nexus of Democratization and Europeanization: Prospects and Challenges “. In the first panel of the conference, “Party Politics and Democratization”, Levan Kakhishvili, a Researcher at the Center for Political Research delivered a talk about the importance of stable political parties for democracy. Other speakers included:

Davit Usupashvili – Former Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia;
David Bakradze – Former Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia;
Dr. Max Bader – Lecturer at University of Leiden;
Levan Tsutskiridze – Executive director of the Netherlands Institute for Multi-Party Democracy (NIMD) in Tbilisi.

The theme of the conference was democratization and included three panels:
1. Party Politics and Democratization – addressing issues related to further development and strengthening of political parties in Georgia;
2. Parliamentarism – devoted to the discussion of the role that parliament can and does play in Georgia’s political system;
3. Europeanization and Democracy – panelists discussed how Georgia can develop a coherent strategy to guide its relations with both the EU and NATO.

Panelists of the conference:

The conference featured such well-known experts and practitioners as Charles Fairbanks, Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute; Laura Thornton, Resident Director in Georgia for the NDI; Dirk Schuebel, Head of the Eastern Partnership Bilateral Division of the European External Action Service, etc. The panelists discussed various challenges for Georgia’s democratization process including Hhow Georgia can develop a stronger and more effective parliament, a more stable and sustainable system of political parties that are defined by coherent ideological programs, and how  Georgia should guide its relations with the EU and NATO.

The conference was made possible through the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).