By Jeta Abazi-Gashi, University of Leipzig, Germany.
Jeta Abazi-Gashi is the current Visiting Scholar at IPDGC. Her paper, “Hello from the Other Side”: Albania and Kosovo’s Distinct Approach to Religion and Politics, explores how two Muslim-majority but constitutionally secular states, Albania and Kosovo, navigate the complex boundary between religion and politics through national symbols, historical narratives, and evolving geopolitical influences.
This research paper is available in PDF.
Strategic Ontologies: Narrative and Meso-Level Theorizing in International Politics
By Ben O’Loughlin, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, and Adam B. Lerner, University of Massachusetts, Lowell.
Ben O’Loughlin was a Visiting Scholar at IPDGC in Spring 2023. He presented and recently published his paper titled Strategic Ontologies: Narrative and Meso-Level Theorizing in International Politics, Dr. O’Loughlin offers a new theory of incremental theoretical evolution that connects the practice of international politics with disciplinary IR.
This research paper is available in PDF.
Beyond Soft Power: Analyzing Russian and Chinese Vaccine Diplomacy in the South Caucasus
By Mariam Gamdlishvili, Georgian Institute of Politics, Policy Paper No. 27, December 2021.
Mariam Gamdlishvili was a Muskie Fellow attached to IPDGC in Summer 2021. Her role at the Institute was to assist with designing a Distinguished Humphrey Fellow program on Media and Disinformation for a group of media professionals from Eastern and Central Europe, Central Asia, and Turkey.
Her paper looks at the use of soft power – the abilities of states to influence behavior and attitudes of foreign populations through attraction, rather than through military or economic means (i.e., hard power) – by a number of international actors is not a novel phenomenon and is exercised in various ways targeting societies and countries globally.
This research paper is available in PDF.