OP-Ed

In March of 2012 while living in my parent's small summer house by the Mediterranean coast in Alicante (Spain), I had no internet for a month. I was unable to communicate with the outside world except through a small, bargain LG phone I’d purchased back in 2008, the cheapest model I could get. When I was little, in the 1980s, my oldest sister and I had savings of about 20,000 Pesetas (about EUR 120). My father encouraged us to open a savings account, and we did. Opening a savings account came with a prize: we chose a collection of some of the best novels by French science fiction writer Jules Verne. I’d never read them, so, in the winter of 2012, without internet and with a collection of unread Jules Verne books, I had the very best and most entertainment month of my entire life.

Jules Verne taught me the importance of dream, vision and prediction. Later authors such as Agatha Christie taught me the value of suspense in a narrative's ability to seduce, conquer and engage the reader. But Jules Verne, with his incredible way of pulling the reader into a fantastic vanguardist world ahead of his time, introduced me to the incredible skill of prediction through projection. In my narrative, I depict a dream society which exists ahead of us, perhaps 200 years from now. In my narrative, I envision the very best possible future, beyond anyone's imagination, for different regions of the world. Through a powerful instrument called "Fiction State," which I introduced in a Huffington Post article in 2016 (this being the subject of my second book), I integrate nation-states in regional alliances that exploit to the maximum the benefits and synergies radical supranational integration has to offer society. In this context, I welcome GEORGIA TODAY's reader to the fantastic new World of Caucasia, the fiction-state for Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. In this opening piece, I will contextualize the importance of Caucasia as a possible and most desirable future scenario for the region, and will elaborate on a handful of fundamental aspects to be expanded and elaborated upon in subsequent pieces.

In a recent article called "Why States Need A Brand," PriceWaterhouseCoopers Australia Chief Creative Officer Russell Howcroft elaborates on the importance that branding has for a region:

“Governments need to attract development and investment, and just as we all understand the concept of soft diplomacy, we need to invest in the soft power that brilliant branding can generate”.

Nation-states are, to a certain extent, obsolete structures. Many nation-states are too small to experience the advantages of resource-pooling and economies of scale. The majority of humans barely know their region, and for many Europeans, small countries in the Balkans such as Albania and Macedonia, or in the Caucasus such as Georgia or Armenia, remain unknown. In these circumstances, prejudice and stereotypes are allowed to emerge and even to thrive. Products and services manufactured locally are associated with low quality, mafia, corruption. Potential tourists are reluctant to visit because they remain afraid of the country risk, the lack of information, the risks to personal integrity. But this game is one of misinformation, because oftentimes, destinations such as Baku and Tbilisi are among the world's safest, especially according to a recent 2017 study conducted by MSN.

In this context, Howcroft establishes a roadmap towards the establishment of a successful branding plan:

“So, what should be done? Set up a new Place Brand Authority with state funds. This authority creates the brand for Perth and invests in developing its meaning. It is not enough to generate a design for Perth: an ‘every media’ communications campaign is required to generate value in the Place Brand. But most importantly, this new authority should only be created if there is a long-term commitment to invest in communications for the brand. It’s only through ongoing and continuous investment that an increase in tourism, business investment and trade will occur”.

If brands don't work, are little known or perhaps have no brand appeal, new brands must be created. Coca-Cola or Nike were once created, now they are worth billions. Brands can also be created for the association and integration of nation-states. Caucasia is a powerful instrument because it establishes a new framework in which tourism and foreign direct investment can become drivers of economic growth, job creation and prosperity. Caucasia is also a powerful incentive for the three countries to share a common, extremely ambitious agenda, removing barriers and borders, creating a common trade area, establishing a common currency, sharing defense and diplomacy, creating a common university space, and providing public healthcare to citizens of the three countries anywhere in the three countries, similar to the accomplishments the European Union has fulfilled thus far.

The creation of Caucasia in the Caucasus, or Balkanland in the Balkans is a powerful instrument, also, for sport competitions. For instance, in Albania, my current country of residence, there exists a football league of twelve teams called "Kategoria Superiore," it's the furthest thing to a superior category, with 12 teams that are not good enough to be competitive at the continental level. If the six Balkan countries which still have not joined the European Union created a Balkan liga, three or four teams in Albania would be playing against the strongest teams in Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina, with a real incentive to become more competitive. When one competes against the best, the road to success becomes tougher, but faster.

The creation of Caucasia, or Balkanland, would be widely covered in the international media, provoking a desired "branding spillover effect" to areas such as tourism and foreign direct investment. Countries that are too small to organize a World Cup or host the Olympic Games could now join forces to bid successfully.

When countries integrate, they also benchmark. Georgia, for instance, has made it to the World's top ten this year in the World Bank's Doing Business Ranking, along with Macedonia. Georgia in Caucasia, and Macedonia in Balkanland, could teach the rest of the countries what to do in order to reduce the "cost of doing business". The same benchmark principle can operate at many other levels, from elementary and middle education, to the University system, healthcare or infrastructure.

Let's look for instance at QS University Rankings for Eastern Europe for the present year 2017: Armenia and Georgia have only one university ranked among the region's top 300, however Azerbaijan has six. Clearly, Azerbaijan is doing things differently, perhaps better, when it comes to university administration. In Spain, my native country, the best universities are in Barcelona. The Catalans are better at setting up and administering public universities. They could teach the rest of Spain, how to improve in order to climb up in the international rankings. The trend, however, seems to be one of confrontation.

I like integration because it has many advantages, because it makes our lives easier. I do not like to have to go through unnecessary barriers and borders that are oftentimes capricious. Life is already difficult enough for leadership to eliminate all unnecessary burdens. I like integration because it allows us to be more efficient, shifting resources from areas that are redundant and overlapping to areas that are vital. Let's say, for instance, that I have a telescope and my brother has another telescope. Let's imagine that I only use the telescope over the weekend and my brother uses it from Monday through Friday. Why can’t we share the telescope?

Let's look at the Balkans. There are six republics, of which five have less than 5 million inhabitants. Each of them runs a different currency, therefore has an autonomous Central Bank. The same applies to ministries, agencies and authorities. If six countries in the Balkans were to integrate, one Ministry, Agency or Authority would suffice: five could be eliminated.

Regional integration would be exemplary. It would show the rest of the world, including the European Union, that countries in the Balkans or the Caucasus are mature enough to negotiate and agree with their neighbors before integrating with more remote countries- integration that is not beneficial because, in reality, integration with a neighbor has spillover effects, whereas integration with a remote nation has a lesser impact.

A new brand, a new project, would be exciting for citizens, who could participate in the building process. For Caucasia, the new administrative capital and new diplomatic capital would have to be identified, of course different from the current capitals of Yerevan, Tbilisi and Baku. I lived in the United States for five years. Americans do many things very well, one of which is to eliminate as much redundancy as possible. New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles, the greatest cities in the United States, are not the capitals of their states. Cities in the United States, the larger ones, are for businesses to thrive, students to attend the greatest colleges, entertainment to flourish and entrepreneurs to create. In Europe, every major city is a political center: Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, Rome. Moving the capital city of Spain from Madrid to Benidorm (on the coast) would have a phenomenal positive impact for Madrileños, from less traffic congestion to the immediate availability of hundreds of the best buildings for university use. Spain, with its 17 Autonomous Communities (including Catalonia) runs 17 parliaments, when two, perhaps three, would suffice. California, with its 37 million inhabitants, only has one political capital in Sacramento, with one parliament. Savings are phenomenal and those who do not see the benefit or oppose it are either not well informed, or are afraid of losing a job that is today redundant.

To move from theory to practice, I am building The Georgia Presidential Team, a team of top-notch Experts who will put together the specific details of the plan of action. Similar teams will emerge in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Three national teams, working together, embracing the same philosophy, can make it happen; we only have to believe in our ability to reach the sky.

J.P.Monfort has earned graduate degrees in telecommunications engineering (Politécnica de Madrid, Télécom ParisTech and Universität Stuttgart), business administration (Collège des Ingénieurs), financial analysis (Carlos III), financial engineering (California-Berkeley), economic development (The London School of Economics), public administration (Columbia), international law (Georgetown-in progress) Religious Studies (University of Chicago-admitted), public health (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine-admitted) and global diplomacy (SOAS-admitted). He has been a columnist for The Huffington Post and Roubini Global Economics and speaks eight languages. He is the Author of Wiley's TheMonfortPlan and is currently working on his second book "Fiction States". He currently lives in the Balkans.

J.P.Monfort