SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
ILIA STATE UNIVERSITY

Vice Rector for Academic Affairs/Education,

Professor of Politics and International Relations, PhD in Political Science





2021 – Present
Vice Rector for Academic Affairs/Education
Ilia State University

In 2000-2004 Giorgi Gvalia studied International Relations at the School of International Law and International Relations at Tbilisi State University. In 2007 he completed his MA degree in International Relations at the School of Social and Political Sciences at Tbilisi State University. In 2013 he has earned his PhD in Political Science from Ilia State University. In 2012-2013 he worked as a deputy dean at the school of Business at Ilia State University. Since 2013 he is the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Politics and International Relations. Since 2018 he is the member of Higher Education Authorization Council. In 2011 he was invited researcher at the School of Global Politics at Arizona State University in the United States. Besides academic positions he has worked at several state and non-state institutions, including Georgian Foundations for Strategic and International Studies and National Security Council of Georgia.

Scientific interests / research interests

  • Theories of International Relations
  • Foreign Policies of Small States
  • Alliances in International Relations
  • Public Opinion and Foreign Policy
  • Europeanization in the Post-Soviet Space
  • Russian Foreign Policy

1. David Aprasidze, Giorgi Gvalia, National Interest and Regime Survival: Why Georgia is Cautious Towards the Russia-Ukraine War (The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 2022)

2. Giorgi Gvalia, National Security, Elite Responses and State-Building in Georgia (Ilia State University Press, 2021)

3. Archil Abashidze, Giorgi Gvalia, A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Border Corruption in the Conflict Regions in Georgia and Moldova (European Scientific Journal, Vol. 16, Issue 11, 2020)

4. Giorgi Gvalia, Bidzina Lebanidze, David S. Siroky, Neoclassical Realism and Small States: Systemic Constraints and Domestic Filters in Georgia’s Foreign Policy (East European Politics, Vol. 35, Issue 1. 2019, Routledge, Taylor&Francis Group)

5. Giorgi Gvalia, Bidzina Lebanidze, Geopolitics and Modernization: Understanding Georgia’s Pro-Western Assertiveness since the Rose Revolution (In: Modernization in Georgia: Theories, Discourses and Realities: Interdisciplinary Studies on Central and Eastern Europe, Ed, Giga Zedania; PETER LANG Publishers, 2018)

6. David S. Siroky, Alan J. Simmons, Giorgi Gvalia, Vodka or Bourbon: Foreign Policy Preferences Toward Russia and the United States in Georgia (Foreign Policy Analysis, 2017, Vol 13, Issue 2.; pp. 500–518. Oxford University Press)

7. Giorgi Gvalia, David Siroky, Bidzina Lebanidze, Zurab Iashvili ‘Thinking Outside the Bloc: Explaining the Foreign Policies of Small States’ (Security Studies, Vol 22, Issue 1. 2013, pp. 98-131, Routledge, Taylor&Francis Group )

8. Giorgi Gvalia, Bidzina Lebanidze, Zurab Iashvili “Political Elites, Ideas and Foreign Policy: Explaining and Understanding the International Behavior of Small States in the Former Soviet Union“ (Ilia State University Press, 2011)

9. Gvalia, Giorgi. Balance of Power or Balance of Threat? Alignments in the South Caucasus (BTKK-Politics Research Group. 2008. Book)

10. Gvalia Giorgi, Kosovo Unique, Not Universal (Georgian Daily, March 2008.)

11. Гвалиа Георгий, Торговля ядерными веществами: новый вызов международной безопасности (Право и Политология №1(2). 2008)

12. Gvalia Giorgi, NATO-Intensified Dialogue (GSAC. 2007)

Current Courses

Course Catalog

  • EU as a Global Actor; Introduction to International Relations
  • Introduction to International Relations; International Relations Theory; Foreign Policies of the States of the South Caucasus: Comparative Perspective (ENG)
  • Foreign Policies of the South Caucasian States: Comparative Perspective – MA (2013-2015)
  • Research in International Relations: Approaches and Methods – BA (2011-2013)
  • History of Modern Europe – BA (2008-2010)

Book Translations from English to Georgian

1. Francis Fukuiama, The Origins of Political Order: From Prehumen Times to French Revolution (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Reprint edition 2012) – Translator- Ongoing;
2. Bruce Jentleson, American Foreign Policy: The Dynamics of Choice in the 21st Century (W. W. Norton & Company, 5th Edition, 2013) – Editor and Translator;
3. Janet Buttolph Johnson H. T. Reynolds, Political Science Research Methods (CQ Press; 7th edition, 2011) – Translator;
4. Thomas M. Magstadt, Understanding Politics: Ideas, Institutions, and Issues (Cengage Learning; 9 edition, 2010) – Translator

Reviewer of the Journals:
1. Foreign Policy Analysis (Oxford University Press)
2. Security Studies (Taylor & Francis Group)
3. Third World Thematics (Taylor & Francis Group)
4. Journal of Eurasian Studies (Elsevier)