The Georgia War, Ten Years On

The year 2018 marks the 10th anniversary of the so-called “five-day war” or "August war", namely the conflict between Georgia, Russia and the Russian-backed, self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. According to Ghia Nodia, the August war was a “moment of truth” for Georgia and for the region, but even for the broader international system’s equilibrium. As such, the conflict’s consequences stretched far beyond the geographic boundaries of the actors involved, having a huge impact on the whole post-Soviet region, the European Union and on warfare in general, as it marked the first use of cyber attacks in support of kinetic operations. This dossier collects a number of different views on the conflict’s consequences on Georgian politics and the region generally. On the one hand, the dossier analyses the implications of the conflict for EU foreign policy and Russia-EU relations. On the other, it also takes stock of Georgia's political changes and, particularly, its process of integration with the EU and NATO.