Georgia's Year of Turmoil

Abstract

Russia’s invasion of South Ossetia in August 2008 was not the beginning of the former Soviet republic of Georgia’s troubles. Following the 2003 Rose Revolution, President Mikheil Saakashvili embarked on a program of sweeping reform and expanded the powers of the executive. Improved access to public goods and internationally-recognized achievements in the sphere of economic reform followed. The building of state capacity and its attendant project of renovating Georgian culture, however, seem to have come at a high cost to Georgian democracy, as opposition parties and the media find themselves marginalized and public unrest becomes increasingly difficult to quell.