Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Compromising democracy: state building in Saakashvili's Georgia

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 28; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/02634930903034864

1465-3354

Lincoln A. Mitchell,

Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East

Abstract This article argues that the since the Rose Revolution, the Georgian government led by President Mikheil Saakashvili has created a false dichotomy between democracy and state building. They have prioritized the latter. Initially, in areas such as reducing bureaucracy, combating petty corruption, improving tax collection, service delivery and infrastructure, the government succeeded in rebuilding the Georgian state. However, because issues of democracy were ignored, efforts to strengthen the Georgian state were not as successful as they might have been. Moreover, the absence of sufficient democracy has contributed to poor decision making, most notably in the run-up to the August war, which ultimately has undermined the major state building accomplishments in Georgia since 2004. Accordingly, any efforts to repair the damage from that war and rebuild the state will be unsuccessful unless they incorporate meaningful democratic reforms. Keywords: GeorgiaMikheil SaakashviliRose Revolutionstate buildingdemocracy Notes For more on corruption in Shevardnadze's Georgia see, for example, Baran (2002) Baran, Z. 2002. The Caucasus: ten years after independence. The Washington Quarterly, 25(1): 221–234. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] or Rostiashvili (2004) Rostiashvili, K. 2004. Corruption in the higher education system of Georgia, Tbilisi: Starr Foundation and IREX; Transnational Crime and Corruption Center. [Google Scholar]. See www.transparency.org. Higher rankings indicate more corruption. TI does not provide rankings for every country in every year, so annual data on Georgia for this period is not available. For a description of the crime problem in Shevardnadze's Georgia, see Conti (2005) Conti, G. 2005. Problems associated with organized crime in Georgia. Trends in Organized Crime, 9(2): 68–77. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] or the more colorfully titled Mail and Guardian article 'Georgia; Sicily of the Caucasus' (Mail and Guardian 2002 Mail and Guardian. 2002. Georgia: Sicily of the Caucasus. 1 January (South Africa) [Google Scholar]). Shevardnadze came to power in 1992, replacing Georgia's first elected president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Although Shevardnadze eventually brought some stability following the chaos of Gamsakhurdia's erratic rule, the process that brought Shevardnadze to power was far from democratic. For documentation regarding the quality of these elections, see the relevant OSCE/ODIHR reports (1999 OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe), Office of Democratic Initiative and Human Rights (ODIHR). 1999. Georgia parliamentary elections final report, 31 October and 14 November [Google Scholar], 2000 OSCE/ODIHR. 2000. Republic of Georgia: presidential elections final report, 9 April [Google Scholar], 2003 OSCE/ODIHR. 2003. Georgia parliamentary elections report, 2 November [Google Scholar]). Figures are in constant 2008 US dollars. The data are taken from the website of the Georgian State Department of Statistics. Available from: www.statistics.ge. Data taken from the Ministry of Finance of Georgia. Available at: http://www.mof.ge/default.aspx?sec_id=2537&lang=2 [Accessed 25 March 2009]. Data are from the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Available from: http://www.mfa.gov.ge/index.php?sec_id=54&lang_id=ENG All figures are in US dollars. See http://www.doingbusiness.org/EconomyRankings/ Strategic Defence Review, Ministry of Defence of Georgia, Tbilisi, 2007. The first rule of politics, of course, is 'Dance with the one what brung ya.' These numbers are taken from public opinion polls undertaken by the International Republican Institute. Available at: http://www.iri.org/eurasia/georgia/pdfs/2007-11-08-georgia.pdf and http://www.iri.org/eurasia/georgia/pdfs/2008%20November%2021,%20Survey%20of%20Georgian%20Public%20Opinion,%20September-October,%202008.pdf. It is not clear whether or not all of this US assistance will be sent to Georgia, but at this time, approximately US$650 million has been allocated and spent. The original quotation, often attributed to former Mexican President Porfirio Diaz, is '¡Pobre Mexico! ¡Tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de los Estados Unidos!' The data are from polling undertaken by the International Republican Institute. Moreover, most of the opposition parties such as the Republicans, the New Rights and the United Opposition share a pro-West foreign policy orientation and a stated belief in Western style democracy. When this vote is added to Saakashvili's pro-Western United National Movement, it is clear that there is a strong majority in Georgia that shares this view.