Rose Revolution

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Photo collage by Marine Danielyan/CivilNet.

Armenia

Roses and Velvet: a contested legacy of revolution

by Shota Kincha

•9 min read

This year marks 20 years since Georgia’s Rose Revolution, and five since the Velvet Revolution in Armenia. Both were born of a desire to end corruption and build a democratic future; their successes and failures, though, have remained a matter for debate. ‘Come out all of you who think that the building and development of the modern Georgian state started this day’. This was the call of the organisers of gatherings in Tbilisi and Batumi last November to commemorate the anniversary of the 2003

Protesters in Yerevan, during Armenia's Velvet Revolution in 2018. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media

Analysis

Datablog | What do the ‘tragic consequences’ of colour revolutions actually look like?

by Givi Silagadze

•4 min read

While Russia regularly warns against the supposed negative consequences of ‘colour revolutions’, data from the Varieties of Democracy project suggests that anti-regime protests leading to changes of government in former Soviet countries have led to lower corruption, cleaner elections, and more vibrant civil society. Fearing unrest in their region, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government often refer to the threat of ‘colour revolutions’ dislodging the existing government i

Riot police use water canon to disperse demonstrators during a protest against the government. Photo: Mari Nikuradze/OC Media

Bidzina Ivanishvili

Opinion | Georgia's neoliberal agony

by Mate Gabitsinashvili

•5 min read

In Georgia, the state has given up on development. Neoliberalism is exhausted — there’s nothing left to sell or deregulate. Georgia is bracing for parliamentary elections in 2020 – and the country is already now in crisis mode. While Georgia’s political party landscape suffers from extreme polarization, the conflicts are not about ideological differences, let alone the development agenda for the country. The popularity of the ruling party ‘Georgian Dream’ is dropping, but there is no sign o