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Ilia State University (ISU) is part of the new Horizon Europe research project "EMBRACing changE: Overcoming Blockages and Advancing Democracy in the European Neighbourhood (EMBRACE)" from October 2022.  

The project aims to study blockages to and drivers of democratisation in the EU's neighbourhood and strengthen the pro-democratic actors based on improved knowledge. It does so through a comparative assessment of hybrid and authoritarian regimes in the eastern and southern neighbourhoods of the EU. The ISU team (Prof. David Aprasidze and Prof. Giorgi Gvalia) will investigate cases from Georgia and Armenia and contribute to developing the theoretical framework and policy recommendations.

The project coordinator is the Berghof Foundation (Germany) and the scientific lead is the University of Konstanz (Germany). The consortium members, beyond the ISU, are the University of Lleida (Spain), University of Maastricht (Netherlands), Stockholm University (Sweden), Ghent University (Belgium), University of Manchester (Great Britain), University of Belgrade (Serbia), Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (Greece), Ukrainian European Studies Association (Ukraine), Arab Reform Initiative Center (France), Concentris Research Management (Germany), Pal-Think for Strategic Studies (Palestine). 

In the frame of the project, the kick-off meeting took place in Berlin on October 19-21. The consortium members discussed the features of the regions and countries under the study. They also analysed structural and institutional factors of democratisation in general. The next meeting, dedicated to methodological issues, will be organised in April 2023. Meanwhile, the working groups have commenced preparations for field studies in online mode. 

 2022