![The newly appointed Georgian Defense Minister Mindia Janelidze with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili at a news conference in Tbilisi, Georgia, Nov. 5, 2014 (AP photo by Shakh Aivazov).](https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/l_georgia_dm_11112014.png?w=519&h=259&crop=1)
The abrupt firing of Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania last week has triggered the country’s most serious political crisis since the Georgian Dream-led coalition government came to power in October 2012. The departure of Alasania, popular at home and widely respected abroad, has raised questions about the durability of Georgia’s pro-Western foreign policy. But although Alasania spearheaded badly needed reforms in the Defense Ministry and was regarded as a guarantor of pro-Western policies within the coalition, his departure is unlikely to disrupt Georgia’s foreign policy—for now. The immediate origins of the crisis were the arrests of senior Defense Ministry officials […]