Shota Kincha is a staff writer at OC Media.
On the eve of the 19 May by-elections in eight municipalities and for a parliamentary seat in Tbilisi’s Mtatsminda District, the Georgian Dream party, chaired by Georgia’s informal ruler Bidzina Ivanishvili, faces a potential new rival that could potentially mobilise the party’s estranged base — the Tbilisi elite. [Read more…]
Post-election polling by CRRC-Georgia suggests that not only are elections most problematic in Georgia’s ethnic minority regions, they are also getting worse. [Read more…]
A USAID-funded study by CRRC-Georgia released on Monday shows that the far right in Georgia is engaged in activities similar to their Russian-supported counterparts in the European Union but speak more negatively about Russia than the West. Whether witting or unwitting, the implications are far-reaching for Georgia.
Polling by CRRC Georgia suggests parents are happy with the quality of schooling in Georgia, but international testing scores and reliance on private tutors suggest otherwise.
Bakar Berekashvili is a professor of Political Science and Sociology at the Georgian American University in Tbilisi.
Georgia’s capitalist transformation has created a new social and political order imbued with the spirit of social Darwinism, and Tbilisi is a city emblematic of this post-communist order. The social injustice and poverty generated by this order, however, is disguised in Georgia’s capital by a façade of development. [Read more…]
CRRC Georgia looks at support for new mandatory technical vehicles inspections in Georgia and finds the population overwhelming in favour. [Read more…]
The most vocal criticisms of successful women in the Russian North Caucasus often come from abroad. It’s time for these ‘keyboard mujahideen’ — refugees from Chechnya, Daghestan, and Ingushetia living in western countries — to realise that following tradition and religion need not preclude an active, empowered role for women in society. [Read more…]
Samson Martirosyan is a freelance reporter based in Armenia. He writes on social justice, regional and domestic politics, and human rights, follow him on Twitter @mrtrsyns.
Pashinyan and his revolutionary team have begun their second march — this time as a government parading towards economic revolution. Despite their ambitious goal to shake up Armenia’s economy, which for years has been impaired by systematic corruption, feudal-like oligarchs and shady deals behind closed doors, their proposed ‘economic revolution’ should do more to address the needs and expectations of the people who made the Velvet Revolution possible. [Read more…]
A still-forming group in parliament led by former Georgian Dream member Eka Beselia could upset the political landscape in Georgia. With 2020 parliamentary elections on the horizon, this new group poses a potential threat to both billionaire former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili’s ruling party as well as the main opposition. [Read more…]
Georgia’s newly adopted law on labour safety is lacking statutes on workers’ rights due a narrow definition of safety — working hours, overtime payment, and required breaks are still not sufficiently regulated. Due to such weak edicts, worker fatalities are still on the rise.
