20 Years after the fall of the Soviet Union
December 8, 2011 marks 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union. On December 10-11, Ilia State University, Atlantic Council of Georgia and Europe House initiated and organized an international conference dedicated to “20 Years after the fall of the Soviet Union, Historical Context and strategic Perspective”.
H.E. Vytautas Landsbergis, the First Head of State of Lithuania after the Collapse of the Soviet Union, opened the conference and welcomed to the audience. Among the panelists, Mr. Ghia Nodia, Director of International School for Caucasus Studies at Ilia State University and Mr. Vladimir Bukovsky, outstanding Russian writer and dissident, made the speeches. They discussed the main reasons of the Soviet Union’s dissolution with taking into discussion historical, political and economic factors. As well, they talked about the successful transformation of the Baltic States in a relatively short period of time and analyzed the grounds of the fail of other post-Soviet countries in the ways of democracy building.
The speakers of the Panel II were Mr. George Kandelaki, Deputy Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of Georgian Parliament, Mr. Andrei Illarionov, Senior Fellow at Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Mr. Peter Semneby, Former EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Timothy Blauvelt, associate professor of Soviet and post Soviet studies at Ilia State University. The panelists talked about the heritage of the Soviet Union and current circumstance. As well, they highlighted the transformation process of the East European countries since 1990 up to now and underlined the role of the West in the democratization process of the post-soviet countries.
The Panel III was devoted to the post-communist world and the challenges faced to post-soviet countries. The panelists emphasized the strategic outcomes of NATO and EU enlargement and underlined the challenges of EU such as freedom, conflicts and economic problems. The spokespersons discussed the cases of Georgia and Moldova and talked about their achievements, current challenges and future perspectives. The speakers of Panel III were Mr. Giga Bokeria ,Head of the Georgian National Security Council, Mr. Damon Wilson, Executive Vice President of the Atlantic Council of USA and Mr. Vladimir Socor, Political Analyst of the East European Affairs, Jamestown Foundation.
The Panel IV of the conference was devoted to the strategic prospects of the Caucasus. The speakers drew attention to the current circumstance of the region and future perspectives. The panelists were Mr. Richard Giragosian, Director of Regional Studies Center (Armenia), Mrs. Marie Benningsen-Broxup Expert on the Caucasus and Central Asia, Editor of the Central Asian Survey, Mr. Heydar Mirza, Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Mr. Mairbek Vachagaev, President of Association of Caucasian Studies.