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New Atlanticist

Oct 31, 2013

Georgian Presidential Election Sets Precedent for Progress

By Laura Linderman

Georgia’s October 27 presidential polls were historic and an important step toward strengthening democracy. Outgoing president Saakashvili was replaced through the ballot box by the ruling Georgian Dream coalition’s candidate, Giorgi Margvelashvili. In a remarkably calm and drama-free election, with the lowest voter turnout in a decade at 46.6 percent, Margvelashvili won with 62.11 percent […]

The Caucasus

Article

Oct 18, 2013

A First for Georgia

By Laura Linderman and Melinda Haring

Replacing the President by the Ballot Box Georgia’s elections and its sometimes tumultuous results are not for the faint of heart. The country will hold a presidential election on October 27 and this election is historic: for the first time in its history, an incumbent president will be replaced through the ballot box and not […]

The Caucasus

Issue Brief

Oct 8, 2013

Cross-border Electricity Exchanges: Bolstering Economic Growth in the South Caucasus and Turkey

By Nino Ghvinadze and Laura Linderman

The latest Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center issue brief, “Cross-border Electricity Exchanges: Bolstering Economic Growth in the South Caucasus and Turkey,” by Nino Ghvinadze and Laura Linderman, explores opportunities for expanding electricity trade in the South Caucasus and Turkey. This brief has been prepared in the context of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasian Energy Futures Initiative. Download PDF

Energy & Environment The Caucasus

Laura Linderman is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. She is an observer of developments in the Eurasia region, and her analysis has appeared in Foreign Policy, the American Interest, the Atlantic Council, the Anthropology of East Europe Review, Liberty Institute, and the Global Post and broadcast by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Voice of America, Huffington Post, Rustavi2, Imedi TV, and TV Pirveli.

Linderman’s research focuses on Georgian politics, economics, and foreign relations. Previously, she served as the Eurasia Center’s associate director. In that position, she developed and shaped analytic and intellectual work on Georgia and supported work on Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, and Azerbaijan and executed related event programming. She maintains relationships with Georgian government, opposition, civil society representatives, and business leaders and the wider Washington policy community.

Linderman is also a senior manager at Splunk, a machine data software company. Prior to joining the Atlantic Council in 2012, she was as a Peace Corps volunteer in western Georgia, where she taught English at the Pedagogical Industrial College of Ozurgeti and served as president of the national Student Women Alliance Network. In 2002 to 2003, she interned at Georgia’s premier think tank, Liberty Institute, where she examined corruption in higher education at Tbilisi State University and supported the Institute’s program to draw attention to discrimination against religious minorities.

Originally from Minnesota, Linderman holds a BA in anthropology and German language and literature from Wellesley College and an MA from Indiana University in anthropology. Her master’s thesis is on gender in rural western Georgia and is based on fieldwork conducted there in 2009.

Linderman is a Transcaucasian Trail Association board member. She speaks Georgian and German.