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
