CIVIC SELF-AWARENESS AND PECULIARITIES OF THE GEORGIAN POLITICAL PROCESS (original) (raw)

The Issue of Institutionalization of Political Parties in Post-soviet Georgia

2020

Political Parties are regarded as one of the main actors. They act as a mediator between the state and the citizens. Moreover, the proper functioning of strong party systems in the country guarantees the stability of the political system. The stability of party systems is particularly important and relevant in relatively young democracies where state institutions are not fully established. A clear example of this is the countries of the post-Soviet space. Where the formation of party systems is encountered differently but with some similar difficulties, taking into account the experience and adapting it to the interests of the country is prominent and relevant for the Georgian reality. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the most pressing issue in the world has been the observation of the development of post-socialist countries. During this period, political systems were also established in Eastern European countries and in the Caucasus region to allow non-communist parties seeking power to come to power. Institutionalization of the party system, which in the post-communist countries, has encountered considerable obstacles subsequently, Georgia is not an exception. However, it should be noted that compared to other countries, the process of institutionalization and transformation in Georgia has lasted a very long time. It is interesting how the political systems and parties of the post-socialist states went through the formation and what is the current state of their representation today. This is one of the main issues in this article.

Georgian Electoral System – Current Problems and Challenges

JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, 2020

According to the definition of modern democracy, the main means of control of the government by citizens is free elections. Elections are a necessary condition for the democratic nature of the state and not a guarantee of it. The election is the key factor in the functioning of democratic systems, which determines the relevance of this topic. The article concerns the Georgian Electoral System, its characteristics, and existing problems; in detail reviews the establishment of the electoral system and the existing regulations of electoral procedures. The article reviews the current problems related to the amendment of the Constitution that includes the transformation of the electoral system to a totally proportional electoral system. The authors gave a detailed analysis of the given draft law and comparative analysis regarding the German electoral system. With respect to democratic principles, thus, any electoral system may be chosen, regardless if it is a plurality or majority system...

Understanding the Georgian Democracy through the Voters' Behavior

Why does the post-soviet Georgian democracy differ so much from the representative model of democracy which was typical for the developed western countries in the 20 th century? We will try to find an answer to this question through the voters' screen. Through using the dimension-reduction techniques, we can analyze the basic, underlying axes that shape the electoral field in Georgia. The identical approach is employed to sketch a general portrait of a Georgian voter and explore his frame of reference while navigating the electoral field. The electoral behavior is also interpreted by employing the relevant theoretical perspectives. In addition, we will describe those aspects of the electoral process in Georgia that may evoke parallels with some of the post-soviet and developed democracies.

Transition Toward Democracy - Georgian Problems

The process of democratisation in Georgia has its obstacles, mostly connected with cultural and socio-economic aspects. Political challenges are interlinked with societal attitudes and vice versa. The historical role of the Orthodox Church in preserving Georgian national identity throughout the cen-turies is over-compensated for, with frequent clerical involvements in public life. Non-democratic gov-ernments have made no effort to finalise the process of transition and for two decades the state has remained in the grey zone between consolidation and autocracy. 2012 was marked as a year for the new hopes of Georgian democracy, a new government was elected via free and fair elections, but democracy needs conditions to endure and this paper examines those conditions.

"IMAGE OF VOTERS" IN THE PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGNS OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES IN GEORGIA: SOCIETY, PEOPLE, NATION

“IMAGE OF VOTERS” IN THE PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGNS OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES IN GEORGIA: SOCIETY, PEOPLE, NATION, 2022

The paper aims at representing the peculiarities of construction the voters’ image in the pre-election campaigns of the three presidential candidates –Z. Gamsakhurdia, E. Shevardnadze and M. Saakashvili. The voters in their speeches were represented as society, people, citizens, as well as Georgian people or nation. In order to succeed in elections, politicians try (and have) to persuade the electorate in the relevance of their mapped policies, problems and that they offer the best ever solution –for the citizens, people and nation. In order to achieve theset aim, the presidential candidates in Georgia referred to logical reasons, also to well-known symbols, emotive images, various rhetoric strategies -which corresponded to the discourse of respective periods, where the main focus was made on national liberation movement, civil unity, implementing of reforms and etc. Thus, the target of the pre-election texts of the candidates was people (citizens, nation) and the outcomes of the elections were the expression of people’s (citizens, nation) will and desire. Accordingly, the “voters’ image” was constructed under the influence of actual challenges and desires. The deliverables of the researched empiric resources allow us to conclude that the emphasis on justification of the necessity of voters’ participationin the electoral processes is one of the fundamental elements of Georgian political discourse, as the aforesaid device recurrently appeared in all the three presidential candidates’ pre-election speeches. On the other hand, the candidates themselves formulated –who was a voter (as a group, with the respective peculiarities, qualities and needs –best seen by the presidential candidates). Through achieving a unity with the people by means of representing themselves as community leaders, the candidates legitimized their actions justifying them as “authorized by the people”. Therefore, the ballot results expressed the community’s will and desire. The Georgian people and nation were especially visible in Z. Gamsakhurdia’s speeches. He considered Georgian people to be the main decision-making group and focused on other ethnic groups through mutual relationships. E. Shevardnadze’s pre-election texts were devoid of ethnic content. He mentioned Georgian people in relation to culture, state symbols, conflicts, foreign policy only. M. Saakashvili “returned” to talking about Georgian people, yet in his speeches he sometimes referred to the society in Georgia and sometimes expressed ethnic content. Thus, the voter represented “an unchanged group” during the period of its author/creator political leader. A new “image of voters” were created during the next the pre-election campaign by a new political leader. The scientific novelty of the article is the analytical approach to the pre-election political texts (speeches, appeals, statements) of the presidential candidates in Georgia, aiming at researching the construction of Georgian “voter’s image” and reflecting the transformation of particular attitudes and the respective representation of voters in Georgian reality.In practical terms, the paper will be interesting and useful for those scientific circles, students and other people dealing with the issues of political discourse and its formation, as well as for the researchers of public speeches

A New Chance for Georgian Democracy

Journal of Democracy, 2013

Something amazing happened in Georgia’s 1 October 2012 parliamentary elections. The government lost and it gave up power, aside from the now-weakened presidency that it will hold for another year. A new coalition known as Georgian Dream ran under the leadership of Georgia’s richest man, the billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, and won 85 seats in the unicameral, 150-member Parliament. Georgia’s post-Soviet background and circumstances make the 2012 opposition win and subsequent orderly handover of power truly remarkable. Indeed, among the “competitive authoritarian” regimes found in what used to be the USSR, it is nearly unheard of. Georgia is lucky to be getting a fourth chance at democracy, after the opportunities under Zviad Gamsakhurdia (1990–92), Eduard Shevardnadze (1992–2003), and Saakashvili faded. But this chance remains a fragile one.

Political Profiles of the Georgian Electorate: Panel Survey Data

2003

Here are presented some findings related to political profiles of the Georgia's electorate made during the first two rounds of the panel survey, which was carried out in October-November 2002 and June 2003 on most of the territory of Georgia, with exception of Abkhazia and South Ossetia (we concentrate here mostly on the June 2003 results, bringing the 2002 data mainly for comparison to illustrate change). The total of 1100 persons have been interviewed, selected so as to take into account demographic variables such as urban/rural settlement type as well as gender and age groups, considered to be a representative sample of the Georgia's population. While two authors, Nana Sumbadze and George Tarkhan-Mouravi, actually wrote this report, many other persons contributed to actual research and the fieldwork, preparation of the questionnaire, interviewing respondents, and processing the results. We would like to acknowledge the especially valuable contribution and support provided by IPS research assistants-Ana Kitiashvili and Ekaterine Pirtskhalava, to whom we extend our sincere gratitude. While interviewers involved in the fieldwork are too numerous to be listed here, all of them deserve our gratitude as well. Tinatin Eristavi did excellent job of entering complicated statistical data. While this report reflects various contributions to the survey, the authors are fully responsible for all its drawbacks and the mistakes. The most significant trend observed is the increase of the orientation towards the West. Respectively, the most pro-American are supporters of Gamkrelidze, but also supporters of Zhvania, Natelashvili, Saakashvili, as well as some of Topadze supporters. Clearly pro-Russian orientation is found among the supporters of Abashidze and Patiashvili. Burjanadze supporters orient more toward the US, but they also do not ignore the importance of Russia. Personality features. E.g.-optimism. Supporters of Burjanadze, Topadze and Gamkrelidze look at the life with more hope and optimism, are more ready to take the responsibility for it in their hands; Among the supporters of Patiashvili, Saakashvili and Natelashvili there are more socially passive, relying on external involvement, they have less hope and optimism.

GEORGIAN ELECTION LAW PROGRAM International Election Principles in 21st Century

This paper explores the role of citizen involvement, government relations and public participation from the standpoint of the specialized area of planning law that involves land use, particularly the local regulation of land use through planning, land use regulation, and other local government official actions. After a brief outline of some of these practices, particularly in the United States, this paper will explore the parallels between the American land use experience with these matters and draw parallels with the experience of selected other countries.

Sacralization of Politics ın the Context of Modern Georgia

European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 2017

Sacralization of politics characterizes tyrannies and democracies alike, functioning as strengthening power bases and maintaining continuity of collective identity. The goal of the study was to register these two directional processes in the modern political context of Georgia. The political landscape of Georgia after gaining independence is characterized by oscillation of voters between charismatic and rational leaders. Inauguration speeches of the presidents were subjected to thematic analysis to reveal religious allusions. All of them although to a different degree refereed to five main themes: Holy path and trial, hierarchies and Gods, rituals, national religious consciousness and anti secularism. Analysis proved the resemblance between the first and the third presidents, both being charismatic, emotional leaders, most often referring to holly path and trial, and religious national consciousness in contrast to the second president, who was steered more by rationality than emotion, referring to hierarchies and Gods, and rituals. Estimations of young voters of the leaders pointed to the preference to the first president-Gamsakhurdia. The idealization of the leaders occurred more in regard to charismatic leaders by those who proved to be less tolerant of ambiguity and hence, more striving to sustain black and white worldview. This result with some precautious can be taken as an indicator of the need to sacralize the leader and thus to maintain continuity and stability of collective identity.

Consequences of Deficit of Intraparty Democracy in Georgia

Consequences of Deficit of Intra-party Democracy in Georgia, 2022

The Chavchavadze Center conducted two studies on intraparty democracy to assess the level of internal democracy within Georgian political parties. These studies revealed a significant deficit of intraparty democracy and identified the causes for it. This paper is the Chavchavadze Center’s third study on intraparty democracy. It seeks to identify the consequences of the deficit of democracy within Georgian political parties. The study found that the deficit of intraparty democracy contributes to the erosion of public trust in political parties, political leaders and, in general, political processes as well as institutions associated with political parties. The political polarization in the country can, to a certain extent, be explained by voters’ disappointment with political parties and increasing nihilism toward the political processes involving political parties, caused in turn by the deficit of intraparty democracy. Political nihilism encourages brain drain and emigration from the country, and adversely affects the economy through its impact on domestic and foreign investments. However, these issues require more research and are not the subject of this particular study.