Book Talk: Living in the Split. The Agency of Armenia and Georgia In-Between Russia and the EU
- For whom
- Students , Employees , Alumni , Press , Private individuals
- When
- 11-06-2026 from 11:00 to 12:00
- Where
- Fatima Mernissi room, Faculty Library Political and Social Sciences, Technicum (T2), Campus Ufo, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, 9000 Ghent
- Language
- English
- Organizer
- Dr. Laura Luciani
- Contact
- laura.luciani@ugent.be
GIES and the Ukraine-Plus Knowledge Center of the Eureast Platform invite you to a book talk on "Living in the Split. The Agency of Armenia and Georgia In-Between Russia and the EU" (published in 2026 by Palgrave) with Dr. Louise Amoris.
The event will be moderated by Dr. Laura Luciani (postdoctoral researcher at GIES).
About the book
This book offers an innovative exploration of how countries in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus - particularly Armenia and Georgia - have actively shaped their own identity and foreign policy in the period between 2008 and 2024. Challenging the prevailing view of these “in-between” states as passive actors dominated by regional powers, it shows how they use their liminal subjectivity between the EU and Russia as a resource for agency. Through poststructuralist discourse analysis, the book reveals how Armenia and Georgia (re-)articulate their role identity, producing both reproductive and subversive effects on hegemonic structures, while creating divisive and connective representations of their regional environment. By examining agency through the lens of liminality and ontological (in)security, the book contributes to the growing trend in IR that foregrounds the perspectives of countries in the EU's and Russia's neighbourhood – departing from dominant Eurocentric and Russo-centric views.
About the author
Louise Amoris holds a PhD in Political Science from Ghent University, Sorbonne Nouvelle University, and UNU-CRIS. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of European Studies, Sorbonne Nouvelle University, Paris. Her research bridges International Relations and Area Studies, examining identity and foreign policy in Eastern European and South Caucasian states. She places particular emphasis on the agency of these states as they navigate hegemonic regional structures in the EU’s and Russia’s shared neighbourhood.