In the latest episode of Beyond the Scoop from the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, host Masha Udensiva-Brenner speaks with geopolitical analyst Tinatin Japaridze (MARS-REERS ’19) about Georgia’s democratic backsliding and the personal toll of watching it unfold from afar.

Blending memoir and analysis, Tinatin reflects on her childhood in post-Soviet Georgia, her family’s displacement during the Georgian civil war, and her unexpected journey from music to geopolitics. As protests erupt in Tbilisi over the government’s pivot away from Europe, she explores how Soviet legacies, generational divides, and rising authoritarianism continue to shape the present.

Ambassador Sarah Mendelson (Ph.D., Political Science, GSAS ‘93) has been working in democracy and human rights promotion for decades, including posts in the Obama Administration, first leading USAID’s democracy, human rights and governance work and later as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Mendelson has long noticed cracks in the field of international democracy promotion, particularly in the United States. In this episode, she discusses the problems in the field, why we need new approaches to human rights and development, and how she hopes to implement these approaches through a Carnegie Mellon initiative called Sustainable Futures. The project, in the pilot stages in Pittsburgh, is based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals framework. It uses AI to collect data on the most pressing local issues and brings these issues to the attention of local representatives. If successful, Mendelson hopes it can serve as a model for global development.