The Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University hosted an event dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Center for Social Sciences (CSS) on December 10.
A presentation of the outcomes of the CSS project Graduate Studies at the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and Georgian edition of Professor Stephen F. Jones’ new book ‘Georgia: A Political History Since Independence’ was held during the event. TSU Rector, Academician Vladimer Papava; Acting Chair of CSS Board of Directors, S. Neil MacFarlane; Member of the Board of Directors and Deputy Ambassador to the United States, Giorgi Khelashvili, students, academic staff, as well as representatives of the Georgian Parliament and Government attended the event.
Deputy Rector Marine Chitashvili said: “The TSU Center for Social Sciences has turned 10. The Center is involved in facilitating education and research in social sciences. Just the Center has translated Stephen F. Jones’ book. This is the first work, which summarizes the road passed by Georgia, as a new state, for the last 20 years. It reflects a lot of interesting developments, including lots of chances lost by the country. In this book we will read about modern Georgian history; it is good to know about it and really look in the mirror.”
Stephen F. Jones, who is the member of the CSS International Advisory Board, said that it was extremely difficult to work on the book, which describes the history of Georgia for the last 20 years. He said that he finished the book in 2012 thinking that it described the history of modern Georgia, but everything changed in a year – now the country has new President, new Parliament, and new Prime Minister. He expressed hope that the book would have a lot of readers in Georgia.
The book ‘Georgia: A Political History since Independence’ by Stephen Jones published in 2012 gives an interesting synthetic analysis of political history since independence of Georgia for the last 20 years. The work is based on local and international resources, personal interviews with ministers, presidents, ambassadors and leading political figures. The book provides bottom-up analysis about Georgia’s recent political and economic developments, electoral behavior, people’s movements and social organizations. It can be said that this is the first book, reflecting Georgia’s development in a post-Soviet period.
