Wilkinson staff member and graduate student Ashley Liberio will be heading to Eastern Europe this week to participate in an MBA travel course put on by Dr. Jim Coyle of the MAIS program.\u00a0 The course will last three weeks and will take her to Tbilisi, Georgia and Baku, Azerbaijan where she will study the geopolitics of the Caspian and Black Sea region.\u00a0 While she is gone she will be periodically blogging her journey.\u00a0 Stay tuned to hear what kind of interesting experiences she happens upon along the way!<\/p>\n
Monday, June 18, 2012:<\/strong><\/p>\n One thing is certain: Georgia is a country in transition.\u00a0 A member of the US Embassy appropriately described Georgia as \u201ca small country in a bad neighborhood.\u201d\u00a0 As a Post-Soviet nation, Georgia has done quite well in taking steps toward creating a western style democracy and sees NATO ascension as an important and positive step towards aligning itself with western powers. Currently, Georgia is one of the largest non-NATO contributors to the war in Afghanistan and generally promotes international policies that align it with the west. The country\u2019s location also makes it an important player in international trade.\u00a0 Georgia is located in an oil and natural gas rich region and is an important transit country for major pipelines including the one that runs from Azerbaijan, through Georgia and into Turkey.\u00a0 In short, Georgia is small, but its moves toward democracy and alliance with western powers is still very important.<\/p>\n Changes in the country are not only echoed in critical political moves toward a democratic state but also in the reconstruction efforts that are happening around the country.\u00a0 Though I cannot say firsthand, I have been told that, had I walked out of a hotel in Tbilisi at night a mere decade ago, I would have been greeted only by darkness.\u00a0 This is hard to imagine considering what I see when I explore the city in the evening.\u00a0 One adventurous night I hiked to the top of Narikala fortress after dark to enjoy the high vantage point.\u00a0 What I saw when I looked out over the city was not simply a capital covered in standard city lights.\u00a0 I saw a culture proudly displayed with bright lights highlighting monasteries like a stage lit for an orchestra.\u00a0 I saw the Bridge of Peace flowing lights like an ocean wave and a radio tower at the top of the city sparkling like the Eiffel Tower.\u00a0 This city is as alive and as vibrant as its people and wants you to see how beautiful it is, even after the sun has gone down.<\/p>\n So far this experience has been overwhelming in the best way.\u00a0 Hopefully this gives you a small taste of what has been a life-changing experience, and it’s not even halfway over!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wilkinson staff member and graduate student Ashley Liberio will be heading to Eastern Europe this week to participate in an 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