Programme Paper

S. Neil MacFarlane, August 2012

http://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/papers/view/185193

• Georgia’s revised National Security Concept provides a good opportunity to examine the country’s official thinking on security and to assess its approach to its internal and external security environments.
• The paper first discusses the background conditions of Georgian national security planning. It then identifies a number of positive aspects of the concept. The main part of the analysis focuses on five problematic issues. One is the possibility of internal instability, which is largely absent in the concept. Another is security aspects of globalization and interdependence. The third concerns threats in the Caucasian region, notably the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and instability in the Northern Caucasus. The fourth issue is the threat from Russia. The final focus is Georgia’s westward orientation.