“Decentralization” is a dirty byword for federalization in much of Eurasia (cf. Ukraine), but it’s not a bad idea in Georgia, especially after the excesses of centralization under Saakashvili.
As the U.S. and Europe struggle to respond to Russian aggression in Ukraine, Moscow hopes to export its Orthodox-Nationalist ideology to Georgia—just as public cynicism towards Tbilisi’s pro-West political consensus is increasing.
Ever since the Georgian Dream coalition’s upset election victory over Mikhail Saakashvili’s UNM, Georgia-Russia relations have been on the mend. But don’t expect the good feelings to last long after the final Olympic delegation leaves Sochi.
For those hoping that Georgia’s seemingly endless political turmoil would subside after 2012’s transfer of power, the last seven months have offered little respite. Though the new government has made some genuine headway with a variety of important reforms, such initiatives have largely played second fiddle to a regular drumbeat of despair. The latest such […]
It wasn’t long after reports revealed the prime suspects of the Boston Marathon bombing and the Watertown shootout as two ethnic Chechens, Tamerlan and Jokhar Tsarnaev, that tales of heroism in the press were displaced by the familiar frenzy of terrorism hysteria. From absurd notions that immigration reform should be scotched because the Tsarnaev brothers […]
The jury is still out on Georgia’s democracy. Despite its impressive parliamentary elections last October, in which Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream coalition surged into power, it’s not altogether clear whether the turbulent Caucasian republic has cleared a major hurdle on the democratic road or is in the process once again of exchanging one strongman for […]
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.