Georgia, the South Caucasus and the BRI: a Situated View

Abstract

Almost two years after the Belt and Road Forum held in Tbilisi in November 2017, this article provides an overview of the development of transit infrastructure in Georgia and its relevance to the entire region. To challenge mainstream accounts of the Belt and Road Initiative, which are characterised by a bird#s eye view of logistical connectivity and geopolitical arrangements, the author focuses closely on the construction of one infrastructure project: the Georgian section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. This project preceded the inception of the BRI, but has nevertheless come to be described as one of the key components of the middle corridor passing through Georgia. By mapping some of the conflicts and frictions that have appeared in and around the infrastructure’s development, what emerges is a much more complex picture of the making of global connections, one characterised by the intertwining of past histories and shaped by the interaction between local events and transnational relations.