Georgia’s EU U-turn
Opinion | Georgian civil society needs to prepare for the worst
As Georgian Dream flaunts its authoritarianism, civil society and its international backers need to dig in for a long fight.
Eduard Marikashvili
Eduard is a Georgian lawyer, human rights defender, and chair of the Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI).
2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections
Opinion | Georgian civil society needs sustained support from the international community
On 26 October, the architect of Georgian authoritarianism, Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, robbed Georgians of their election. Any future government change through elections is ruled out if the status quo persists. An ominous calm pervades the country. It appears as though nothing has changed, yet a looming crisis haunts each home, office, and street, whispering of impending disaster. Yet it is also clear that the election administration has finally dismantled the illusion of democrat
2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections
Opinion | Georgia’s ‘democratic’ institutions are reinforcing autocracy
Georgia’s authoritarian regime uses democratic-seeming institutions to maintain its hold on power and so complicate efforts to resist, as seen recently with their use of the Anti-Corruption Bureau to crack down on election observers. Georgia’s authoritarian regime, constructed by billionaire ruling party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, is a prime case of how democratic institutions can deteriorate, becoming mere facades of democracy while fully enabling the repressive machinery of authoritariani
