Dr. Tornike Turmanidze is an Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations at Tbilisi State University and at the School of Governance at Caucasus University. He is Founder and Chair of the Board at the Georgian think tank, “BTKK - Policy Research Group.” Dr. Turmanidze served as Deputy Secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia from 2011 to 2013 and held various positions at the Information and Analysis Department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia from 2004 to 2010. His areas of expertise include national and global security, IR theory, U.S. foreign policy in Eurasia, foreign policies of small/weak states, Russia-Georgia relations and the security situation in the Russian-occupied Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Dr. Turmanidze holds a PhD (2010), MA (2002) and BA (2000) in International Relations from Tbilisi State University. He is also the editor of International Relations Theory: A Chrestomathy (2004) and the author of Buffer States (2011 Georgian edition, 2009 U.S. edition).