Smart power and its constraints: case of Russia’s smart power in Georgia

Smart power has become especially important in a world that is changing at a historically unprecedented pace and that has resulted in changing nature of national as well as international power. Traditionally smart power has been explored in the context of the US foreign policy making, despite the fact that other states also opted for smart power strategies.
The thesis tries to fill to this gap and empirically study effects and constraints of smart power on the case of Russia’s foreign policy vis-à-vis Georgia that during the past years implied both soft and hard power instruments. The thesis tries to answer the following question: Why Russia has shifted its policy from clearly hard power centered to more softened smart power policy in Georgia and how this shift has effected on Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic foreign policy choice?
In doing so, the thesis uses case study as a main research method, where Russia’s foreign policy documents and statements of the relevant public officials are duly examined in order to analyze how hard and soft power instruments have been incorporated in Russia’s policy towards Georgia. On the other hand, the thesis explores public statements of Georgian officials, foreign policy and security strategic documents in order to assess the trends in Georgia’s foreign policy making and behavior vis-à-vis Russia and the West. The thesis looks at the public attitudes towards Georgia’s declared foreign policy goal as well as Russia and analyzes trends in those regards. Russia’s soft power is measured by the discourses of Orthodox church and mainstream media outlets in Georgia.
The thesis hypothesis suggests that Russia’s overreliance on hard power instruments have undermined effectiveness of Russia’s smart power to effectively reverse Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic foreign policy choice. Despite the fact that the research proves that Russia’s hard power tools decreased the efficacy of overall Russia’s smart power to change Georgia’s foreign policy priorities on policy level, the thesis also identifies some changing trends in public attitudes of Georgians ultimately indicating that Russia’s soft power has effected on public opinion to some extent.