Nino Gozalishvili is an academic specializing in studying nationalism and national identity discourses,  far-right and populist mobilization, post-socialist transformations and questions of geopolitical alignment in Eastern Europe. She holds a dual-accredited PhD in Comparative History with a specialization in Nationalism Studies from Central European University, Vienna. Currently a faculty member at the School of Social Sciences, the University of Georgia, Tbilisi. She is also a Remote Research Fellow at the Marc Bloch Centre, Berlin, within the STEPPE project on entangled political imaginaries across East and West Europe. She was a Digital Humanism Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), Vienna, in 2025. She has held visiting research positions at the Universities of Edinburgh and Zurich. Her research is rooted in qualitative methods, discourse analysis, and (n)ethnographic fieldwork. She has published in Nations and Nationalism, Nationalities Papers, International Studies Perspectives, and Global Discourse, among other venues. She is the recipient of the ASEN/Nations and Nationalism Essay Prize (2024) and was listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 Georgia (2023) in the category of Science. 

Nino Gozalishvili has taught at the University of Georgia (Tbilisi), the Free University of Tbilisi, and Central European University. Courses include Populism and Democracy; Disinformation and Society; Qualitative Research Methods in Social Sciences; Political and Social Theory (MA/PhD); and Nationalism and Transnationalism. She co-directs a course on Post-Empire Transformations: Georgia and Ukraine in Comparative Perspective at the Invisible University for Ukraine (IUFU). At CEU she served as co-instructor and teaching assistant for graduate nationalism studies modules, supervised by Andras Kovacs and Luca Váradi, and received a Certificate of Excellence in Teaching through the CTL doctoral programme.

Nationalism and far-right politics in post-Soviet and post-communist societies; narrative geopolitics and identity politics; transnational ideological diffusion and negative inspiration; national-populism and democratic backsliding; disinformation and hybrid information warfare; youth radicalization and digital mobilization. 

Selected Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles and Book Chapters

Gozalishvili, Nino, and Revaz Topuria. 2025. "Digital Pathways and Transnational Frames: The Mobilisation of Georgia's Young Far Right." In Oxford Intersections: Social Media in Society and Culture, edited by M. L. Khan. Oxford Academic. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780198945253.003.0053

Gozalishvili, Nino, and Mariami Kilasonia. 2026 [2025]. "Rethinking Alignment: Framing Pragmatism in Georgia's Identity Debate." Global Discourse 16(1): 81–104. https://doi.org/10.1332/20437897Y2025D000000065

Gozalishvili, Nino. 2024. "Decoding Transnationalism within the Georgian Far Right: 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.'" Nations and Nationalism. https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.13069 [ASEN/Nations and Nationalism Essay Prize, 2024]

Gozalishvili, Nino, and Revaz Topuria. 2023 [2024]. "The War in Ukraine as a New Disinformation Reference Point in Georgian Far Right." International Studies Perspectives 25(3): 325–358. https://doi.org/10.1093/isp/ekad006

Gozalishvili, Nino. 2022. "Proving the 'European Way': The West in Georgian Far-Right Discourse." Caucasus Analytical Digest 129: 1–8. https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000570374

Gozalishvili, Nino. 2021 [2022]. "'Europe Is Awakening': Diffusion of National-Populism in an Eastern Partnership Country — The Case of 'Georgian March.'" Nationalities Papers 50(3): 471–497. https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2021.15

Gozalishvili, Nino. 2018. "Counterbalancing EU and Russian Soft Power Practices in Georgia." Romanian Journal of Society and Politics 12(2): 60–83.

Gozalishvili, Nino. 2018. "The Late Cold War and Cracks in the Iron Curtain for Georgian Youth in the 1980s: The Subcultural Nature of the 'Jeans Generation.'" Corvinus Journal of International Affairs 3(2): 42–54.

Policy Papers and Reports (Selection)

Gozalishvili, Nino, and Mariam Kalandadze. 2025. The Grassroots Reimagination of Europe: Youth Identity and Democratic Resistance. UGSPN / Böll Foundation.

Gozalishvili, Nino. (ed.). 2024. Topuria Revaz, Sophromadze Vazha, Davlianidze Khatia, & Bilanishvili, Giorgi.  The Radical Right and Youth in Georgia: Networks, Mechanisms, and Tendencies of Radicalization. University of Georgia / UGSPN.

Gozalishvili, Nino. 2021–2022. "Country Report for Georgia." Freedom House: Nations in Transit 2021, 2022.