Reimagining Soviet Georgia

On today's episode we explore the development of secondary education in Georgia in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent marketization processes.

The education sector widely privatized resulting in lower quality education, poverty wages for teachers and ideological conflicts over curriculum.

Why did this happen and what does it mean for secondary education in Georgia today?

Our guest is education expert and former school teacher Nika Maglaperidze

Nika Maglaperidze is a PhD student and administrator at the Centre for Public Education and Pedagogy at Maynooth University, Ireland. His research interests focus on educational theory, continental pedagogy, and curriculum studies. He is a former school teacher.

Read Nika's recent article here:

https://pie.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/pie/article/view/1967

Episode music:

პანიკა - "სიგარეტი კლავს"

On today’s episode we explore the political-intellectual world of Stalin, from his embrace of Marxism in Georgia at the turn of the century to his years in the Kremlin as head of the Soviet Union, with historian Geoffrey Roberts.

Guiding our discussion is Roberts newest book Stalin’s Library (2022). In it, Roberts constructs a riveting intellectual biography of Stalin as a Marxist through Stalin's engagement with other thinkers, his own writings as well as his notes and annotations on books in his personal library.

We also discuss how Georgia shaped Stalin’s political development and much more.

Geoffrey Roberts is an historian, biographer, and political commentator. A leading Soviet history expert, his many books include an award-winning biography of Zhukov, Stalin’s general, and the acclaimed Stalin’s Wars: From World War to Cold War. He is emeritus professor of history at University College Cork and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Check out Geoffrey Robert’s website to read his writing and more:
https://geoffreyroberts.net/

Episode music:
Tkveoba - მოლოდინი

On today’s episode we discuss the ins and outs of the European Union and how it structurally, institutionally and ideologically reinforces its own legitimacy through “civil society” within current and prospective member states.

Our guest is Thomas Fazi.

Fazi is the author of the book The European Propaganda Machine: The Dark Side of NGOs, Media and Universities (2026) - (published in Italian).

Book description:

A topic no one talks about: for the first time, the apparatus through which the European Union has built, financed, and implemented a widespread system of control over public discourse is dismantled piece by piece. Through a documented analysis of the flows of money to NGOs, media, and universities, the text shows how European public resources are being used to generate artificial consensus, marginalize dissent, and promote an integrationist ideology presented as neutral and inevitable. What emerges is a portrait of a largely co-opted “civil society,” a structurally dependent media, and an academia transformed into a vehicle for political legitimacy. This investigation raises fundamental questions about the state of democracy in Europe and the increasingly blurred lines between information, activism, and propaganda.

Thomas Fazi is a critically-acclaimed writer and journalist. His books include The Battle for Europe: How an Elite Hijacked a Continent — and How We Can Take It Back (Pluto Press, 2014), Reclaiming the State: A Progressive Vision of Sovereignty for a Post-Neoliberal World (co-authored with Bill Mitchell; Pluto Press, 2017) and The Covid Consensus: The Global Assault on Democracy and the Poor — A Critique from the Left (co-authored with Toby Green; 2023). His latest book, published in Italian, is The European Propaganda Machine: The Dark Side of NGOs, Media and Universities (2026). His articles have appeared in numerous online and printed publications. He is a columnist for the British magazine UnHerd and the American magazine Compact.

Episode music:

მინდა და ვთხრი - სმა

On today’s episode we sit down with Max from International Research Centre DDR (IFDDR) to discuss their excellent study on land reform and socialist agriculture in the German Democratic Republic (known globally by it’s German acronym the DDR - Deutsche Demokratische Republik):

The Land to Those Who Work It: From Land Reform to Socialist Agriculture in the DDR

Study description:

Within just 45 years, the conditions in the East German countryside changed fundamentally. This transformation took place in several stages.

The first stage (1945–1948) instituted a land reform that broke up the centuries-old land ownership structures in the countryside. This process of democratisation created the first framework for new relations of production based on cooperation. The second stage (1952–1960) was characterised by the Genossenschaftsbewegung (the cooperative movement), which was able to resolve the contradictions between modern technology and small-scale production in the interests of farmers and agricultural workers, without ruining, displacing, or subordinating them to the interests of big business, as occurs under capitalism. By the same token, the agricultural cooperatives also provided the rural population with previously unattained social and cultural rights and opportunities. The third and final stage (1970s–1980s), built on this foundation and saw the development of large agricultural production complexes and deepening cooperative relationships between the various stages of production, from primary production to processing and distribution.

Of all the changes in East Germany’s forty-year socialist history, the most revolutionary developments occurred in agriculture, as they were the most comprehensive.

International Research Centre DDR (IF DDR) is a research collective tht investigates the history of the German Democratic Republic (DDR) and the societal changes it achieved. The DDR’s 40-year commitment to progress, peace, anti-fascism, anti-colonialism, and internationalism stands in sharp contrast to the history of capitalist West Germany and represents a wealth of knowledge for progressive movements seeking to tackle social challenges today.

IFDDR’s objective is to enrich current debates with historical experience. To do so, it examines and analyses the functioning of key sectors of the DDR’s socialist society: the planned economy, the health care system, the legal system, agriculture, education and so on. A critical appraisal of this history offers a deeper perspective on the fundamental possibilities and difficulties that arise when constructing alternative social, economic, and political models.

Read more about IFDDR here

Check out their studies here

Episode music:
შავი პრინცი და ბაბე - “დაკარგული გული”

On today’s episode we discuss Cold War liberalism with historian Daniel Bessner.

In the mid-twentieth century, Cold War liberalism exerted a profound influence on the US state, US foreign policy, and liberal thought across the North Atlantic world. The ideology transformed politics, society, and culture writ large. From impacting US foreign policy in the Middle East, to influencing the ideological contours of industrial society, to shaping the urban landscape of Los Angeles, Cold War liberalism left an indelible mark on modern history.

During the Cold War and through the US-led post-Cold War “unipolar” moment, Cold War liberalism and Neo-conservativism guided a messianic US foreign policy. In post-Soviet countries like Georgia and beyond these ideologies would have profound influence, the remnants, contradictions and consequences of which we can still see today.

Daniel Bessner is an Associate Professor in American foreign policy at the University of Washington. He co-hosts the podcast American Prestige and has published pieces in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The New Republic, The Nation, n+1, and other venues. He is the co-editor of Cold War Liberalism: Power in a Time of Emergency (2026)

Check out Cold War Liberalism: Power in a Time Of Emergency here

Listen to the American Prestige podcast here
Episode music credits:
SVLA - ბნელი და ნათელი ღამეები

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZk_9uPWuXw