The Struggle of Georgian Democracy

The paper aims to review the democratization experience of post-Soviet Georgia. Due to the differences in geography, history, political culture, economy, and governance of each Soviet republic, the transition periods of these countries have eradicated all commonalities. Despite their common problems, the transformations are individual, due to local conditions and circumstances. Georgia’s declared goal is the development of a stable and successful democracy. But how do Georgians understand democracy, and how is it supported via government policy? The social and educational diversity of Georgians shall be taken into consideration in assessing the functioning of judiciary, executive, administrative and legislative bodies. The various aspects of Georgian politics – informal deal making, attitudes of elites, generational specificities, and everyday concerns of citizens preclude the possibilities for generalization. The political culture of Georgia, social relations, local governance, employment problems, and daily political life was determined by the grotesque behavior of the Georgian elite and the Civil War, separatism and Russian intervention. This leads us to Tip O’Neill’s maxim – “All politics is local”.

Authors: Giorgi Kanahsvili,Revaz Koiava
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