Georgian State Research Articles

Policing As Spectacle in Georgia: The Creation of Boundaries in a Post-Revolutionary Country

The paper contributes new perspectives to the study of post-communist reforms by highlighting the limits of the transition paradigm in the analysis of reform processes in the post-Soviet space. It examines Georgia’s police reform and argues that the more repressive aspects of the reform should not be viewed as “setbacks” on a transition path, but as integral to the goal of constructing a new Georgian state through the creation of symbolic divides between two different “Georgias”. This symbolic work of emphasising contrasts between different domains by casting light on and obscuring social phenomena is analysed through the lens of the “spectacle of policing” (Comaroffs 2004; Wacquant 2009).

Factors Influencing Student Satisfaction in Higher Education. The Case of a Georgian State University

With the increasing importance, higher education is considered as a major asset for any nation’s socio-economic and technological development. The quality of education offered by the higher education institutions directly impacts country’s performance. That is why, number of scientific researches and public reports and debates agrees on the importance of the quality management in higher education. There is also an important debate on a link between the service quality and students’ satisfaction. On the one hand, there is a logical dependence of the degree of satisfaction to the perceived quality. On the other hand, number of studies have also identified a link between students’ satisfaction and their loyalty. This study looks at the determinants of student satisfaction in Georgian Higher Education Institutions. With the objective to detect the main components of service quality influencing students’ satisfaction, the article uses HEdPERF as a measuring instrument of higher education service quality. Data is collected from 793 students of one of the largest universities of the country. An exploratory factor analysis six factors for the further examination. After scale development, a multiple regression analysis is used to test the research hypothesis. The results of the study show that the administrative factors are the most sensitive and have a positive influence on the students’ satisfaction. Also, there is a positive relation between academic programs and student’s satisfaction. The disproportionate attitude is observed between the importance of academic factors and satisfaction.

A Church of Saint Sabbas in Heiti Architecture as a Primary Source

The article discusses the history of the construction of the church of St. Sabbas in Kheiti village, located in the middle stream of the Big Liahvi river. The text describes in detail the current state of the monument, proposes the reconstruction of the original forms, and highlights the main stages of construction. The architecture of this monument, as well as stylistically and technically similar ecclesiastical buildings appears as the main primary source for the history of territories of the historical region Shida-Kartli (northern part of Eastern Georgia) in the 10th c., linking insignificant information from the main annalistic monument of Georgia — Kartlis Tskhovreba with epigraphic material in the form of building and funeral inscriptions on churches in the upper streams of Liahvi and Ksani rivers. A comparative analysis of the monuments of local ecclesiastical architecture, as well as neighboring regions, suggests the organization of a certain construction policy of the governors of the Abkhaz king, who controlled the territories in the gorges of the Big Liahvi and Ksani rivers, a large feudal family of Tbeli. Churches that were built under their supervision can be combined into a homogeneous group, that uses specific building techniques, both functional and decorative, based on the local traditions of earlier monuments, but transformed through the use of patterns common throughout the South Caucasus region (neighboring Georgian state formations, as well as Armenia). The author of the article also draws attention to the purpose of the church (monastery, parish or house), not least affecting the decision regarding the type and general appearance of the building.

Hegemony in Post-Soviet Georgia: Types of Nationalisms and Masculinities

The article concerns the political history of the post-Soviet Georgian state. The new post-Soviet nation-state is being created and gradually transformed into a political economy of liberal democracy and neoliberal capitalism. In this transformation, Georgia moves away from the Soviet Union and its successor Russia and acquires European identity via the discourse and practices of national political and economic elites. The discursive production of this hegemonic pro-Western nationalism is intertwined with the production of hegemonic masculinities. This article analyzes the discourses of these elites and reveals three types of hegemonic masculinity, which acquire their meaning alongside and through the processes of national independence, militarization, and/or neoliberal reforms and policies. These new masculinities aim to replace old, Soviet, hegemonic masculinities in Georgia and thus, a new kind of hegemonic culture and patriarchy is being created. Further, the historical domination of pro-Western nationalism can be interpreted variously: while Georgia is open, nearly from the outset, to the Western-style political system (liberal democracy), one can also look to certain historical moments as the turning points when an active neoliberal transformation and (discursive) attainment of European identity began in Georgia. Keywords: nationalism; masculinities; hegemony; post-Soviet Georgia.

THE MODEL OF GEORGIAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND POST CRISES GLOBAL ECONOMY

Despite the fact that Georgia has already been an independent country for 25 years and inculcates the principles of market economy, the issue of choosing the model of country’s economic development has not been resolved up to the present time. Georgia frequently chooses radical models not only at the theoretical level, but also at the political one and has ambitions of merging them by unique prescription. Unfortunately, frequently there are attempts to borrow ideologically inappropriate models without comprehending their essence that causes problems for maintaining achieved successes. In order to choose a correct model, it is imperative to analyse at least at the theoretical level all those threats and possible successes that can be caused by choosing this or that model and its implementation. It is important that the society achieve consensus on what political philosophy the Georgian state system should be based on, the organic or mechanical theories of state. According to the first one the state is a natural organism, each individual is a part of this organism, and the state itself is a heart of this organism. According to this ideology; the individual is important as a part of society and his/her wellbeing should be considered in the context of the well-being of society. As regards the mechanical theory, it is based on the notion that the state is not an organic part of society and humans devised it to achieve their own goals. The economic essence of the noted theories is clearly reflected in Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes’s theoretical legacy. Smith was convinced that, if there are free markets and individuals act by their own interests, the whole economy works well. Smith claimed, that in the conditions of market economy the useful action of individuals’ own interests by the principle of “invisible hand” brings about maximization of the general well-being of society. According to Keynes, Smith’s “invisible hand” showed an utter irrelevance to the real developments that became a reason for formulating a new macroeconomic theory. Today our aim is to find that theoretical golden mean, which in case of its implementation, will enable Georgian economic model to be maximally effective and fair. individual is important as a part of society and his/her wellbeing should be considered in the context of the well-being of society. As regards the mechanical theory, it is based on the notion that the state is not an organic part of society and humans devised it to achieve their own goals. The economic essence of the noted theories is clearly reflected in Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes’s theoretical legacy. Smith was convinced that, if there are free markets and individuals act by their own interests, the whole economy works well. Smith claimed, that in the conditions of market economy the useful action of individuals’ own interests by the principle of “invisible hand” brings about maximization of the general well-being of society. According to Keynes, Smith’s “invisible hand” showed an utter irrelevance to the real developments that became a reason for formulating a new macroeconomic theory. Today our aim is to find that theoretical golden mean, which in case of its implementation, will enable Georgian economic model to be maximally effective and fair.

Caught in a bad romance: displaced people and the Georgian state

After years of frenetic cross-border movement, in 2014, a mother and daughter live in post-Soviet Georgia as practically stateless noncitizens. Recognizing the advantages of citizenship, they commit their limited resources to obtaining citizenship documents. Through an analysis of their attempts to make citizenship claims and build stable lives, this paper argues that the contemporary Georgian citizenship regime fosters a relationship that further destabilizes the lives of already vulnerable non-citizens. It does so by drawing them in with the promise of citizenship – only to deny them. Yet, Georgian citizenship law is neither uniquely malicious nor indifferent; its form of ‘inclusive exclusion’ is an inherent feature of the reigning paradigm of global citizenship. In this context, far from being passive subjects, non-citizens facing consistent official refusals and seemingly flagrant obfuscation actively attempt to both maintain their relationship with the state and transform it in their favor.

Georgian Welfare State: Preliminary Study Based on Esping-Andersen’s Typology

This study aims to examine the welfare state of Georgia according to the Esping-Andersen’s typology and justify the theory of “(in)stable welfare states”. This article analyses different aspects of wellbeing (pension and healthcare systems, labour-market policy and family benefits) in Georgia during the period of 1991-2013. The research showed the diversity of policies in different fields of social care. Results revealed that Georgian health and labour-market policy can be classified as a liberal, pension system – as a social-democratic and family benefits policy – as a conservative. Thus, the theory of (in)stable welfare state can be justified and Georgian state can be qualified as a country with a hybrid and instable social policy. However, further research is needed for the final confirmation (or falsification) of this theory after the current policy reforms started from 2013 are completely implemented.

Information Technology Audit in Georgia

With the development of information technology to carry out effectively their missions the largest part of a variety of organizations, government agencies and services have become dependent on computer systems. For each of the organization’s activities the IT environment must be properly studied and evaluated in which they perform the basic activities. Therefore, in such environment it is necessary to make the information technology audit of IT systems operating reliability and functionality in order to obtain reasonable assurance. IT governance and information systems audit is imperative for successful governance. This paper with a comprehensive literature review defines information technology audit, investigates how IT audit performs in the public sector of Georgia. Also it provides the thorough explanation of the experiences of the Georgian State Audit Office. The study analyses the challenges of the IT audit and point to future development directions of IT audit in the public sector. Although considerable research exists on IT control and on internal auditing, there is limited study that refers to IT evaluation control activities in the public sector auditing. As such, the findings from this research would generate new conclusion to enrich the existing literature on IT related auditing. The findings also may improve the IT evaluation activities in the Georgian public sector.

The self-defeating game: how state capacity and policy choice affect political survival

ABSTRACTPolitical science has dedicated extensive attention to the determinants of regime change as well as its relation to state capacity. Less work has focused on incumbent political survival and state capacity. Building on selectorate theory [Bueno De Mesquita et al. 2005. The Logic of Political Survival. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press], we suggest that the chance of the party of the incumbent remaining in office is partially a function of the capacity of the state they hold power over. However, we also hypothesize that state capacity volatility decreases an incumbent’s chances of winning elections. To empirically test these hypotheses, the article uses a cross country statistical analysis complemented by illustrative case studies of policy making from Armenia and Georgia. The analyses support the above two hypotheses, showing that if the incumbent increases state capacity, it increases their chances of staying in office. However, capacity volatility decreases their chances of survival. While Georgian state capacity developed in fits, jumps, and starts, in Armenia state capacity developed at a slow and steady pace for most of its independence. As the aphorism goes, slow and steady wins the race with politicians being thrown out of office in Georgia and the incumbent in Armenia maintaining its power. Based on the article’s analyses, we suggest that a self-defeating game is at work for reformers.

Impact of Time Management on Personal Development of Master’s Degree Students

In juvenile age time management has significant impact on the personal development abilities not only in current period, but throughout the life. Goal of the work is to establish the reasonability of Master’s degree students’ development and correctness of distribution of their time proceeding from scheduled goals on the basis of Master’s degree students’ time budget analysis. According to individual priorities the personal development depends on reasonably formed balance between physical, spiritual, vocational, social, mental, emotional development and in no circumstances on absolute disregard of one or another factor. At consequent life stages an even development of the individual has an impact on his (her) physical, mental health and working capacity. 523 Master’s degree students of Georgian State University in the capital and regions were subjects of research. Study of 48% of time budget of active students of biggest Georgian university actually gives us detailed picture of state-of-the-art. To what extent do students perceive this stage of their personal development? Time management characteristics directly or indirectly show us, to what extent student are able to control their own development and balance the life. Do they comprehend short-term, long-term goals and plans, or not? How do they distribute their time at work, during study, when resting, doing sports, sleeping, when satisfying their cultural and spiritual requirements or accomplishing short-term or long-term plans? How much time do they lose senselessly during a day, what is their nutrition regime and sleeping schedule? Conclusions and future forecasts obtained on the basis of research contain important and relevant information and recommendations not only for individuals of specific groups, but also in general, on functioning of systems regulating various spheres, especially education and labor.

The Politics of Russian‐Language Film Showings in Post‐Soviet Georgia

A law was implemented in Georgia in 2011 that required all foreign films to be shown with Georgian state language dubbing or subtitling. At that time, Russian was the default language of film showings. A year later, the largest movie theater in Tbilisi was fined for showing films in Russian language without Georgian state language subtitling or dubbing. This fine, however, had little effect on film‐showing practices. I describe how media‐language politics involved collaboration among social actors in the Georgian Ministry of Culture, the movie theater industry, and the film‐dubbing industry. To do so, I develop the concept of dormant law: a mostly unenforced hard law that codifies aspirational conditions. Through the possibility of selective activation, dormant law functions as a latent instrument of politics. In political and popular discourse during President Saakashvili's era (2004–2013), social actors framed Russian as a potentially hazardous symbolic resource embedded in infrastructure, whereas they framed English as either harmless or enriching to “Georgianness.” In film‐language debates, citizens and politicians reflected on the meanings of “international” languages, in contrast with Georgian. The Film Law manifested a hierarchy of social value in which English and Russian were competing codes, iconic of possible future Georgian modernities.

Gatekhili Mountains, gatekhili State: Fractured Alpine Forest Governance and Post-Soviet Development in the Republic of Georgia

While many states at the periphery of the former Soviet Union have pursued decentralization in nearly all areas of governance, this trend is perhaps most notable in natural resource sectors and the effects these reforms have on society. I explore these scalar political, economic, and environmental connections through a qualitative case study of alpine forest governance in the mountains of Georgia. Analyzing a series of thirty-five semi-structured interviews conducted during the summers of 2012 and 2013, I investigate the ways in which state power operates through governance of Georgia’s alpine forests. Like all democracies, the Georgian government oscillates between poles of centralization and decentralization. However, the practices of the Georgian government, as it currently exists through alpine forestry, produces a distinctly fractured (gatekhili in Georgian) form of democracy. The dynamics of the emerging Georgian state as seen through alpine forest governance are informative for understanding the political transition of mountainous post-Soviet states in the 21st century, and contemporary state formation more generally.

“Noblemen became enthroned”

This paper is an attempt to clarify the typological essence of the Georgian state at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. Ivane Javakhishvili believed that it was appropriate to describe the Georgian state of those times as a limited monarchy. Others (Professors S. Meskhia, I. Antelava, ...) did not share this opinion. They argued that autocracy was better matched to the kingdom of Queen Tamar's times. Primary sources and the analysis of scholars’ opinions have convinced us that Javakhishvili was right, although the system of power of any country cannot be fully placed within the frames of a specific stereotype of classification. The Georgian state of Queen Tamar's times can be classified as a limited monarchy, oligarchy, or timocracy, the choice depending on the emphasis placed. Despite the conflicts that took place in Georgian society at that time, Queen Tamar managed to direct all political forces into one millrace and achieve accord (unanimity) between elite groups. Her domestic policy can be assessed as an “act of sovereignty” of noblemen, members of landed gentry, clergymen, merchants, and craftsmen. “What, then, strictly speaking, is an act of Sovereignty? It is not a convention between a superior and an inferior, but a convention between the body and each of its members. It is legitimate, because [it is] based on the social contract, and equitable, because [it is] common to all; useful, because it can have no other object than the general good” (Rousseau 2017, 24).

MULTICULTURALISM IN GEORGIA: PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES

During 25 years of independence, because of different objective and subjective reasons, independent Georgian State could not fully get over the problems concerning ethnic minorities (despite the fact that in this direction after Rose Revolution of 2003 the situation was positively changed and several steps were made) We can single out still actual several main issues concerning ethnic minorities and their integration process. Among non-ethnic Georgians, especially in the compactly populated regions the level of knowledge of Georgian language is still very low. In the country the level of unemployment is quite high and ethnic minorities are no exception too. In non-urban space the level of unemployment is higher than in urban space. As a result, Georgian population has less possibility to interact with ethnic minorities in the public sphere. Cultural and informational alliance. The level of civic alienation is quite high too. Weak civic institutionalized space doesn’t help the collaboration of ethnic groups and appropriate articulation of private interest. Until recently Georgian political establishment was very cautious with the ethnic politics and indecision in this regard was also quite often. Despite the individual projects and efforts carried out in recent years, it is still difficult to say that the Georgian government has consistent and effective policies in order to overcome problems caused by its ethno-religious multi-membership. Although in this sense recently there are some positive trends but the given efforts have still fragmented character and they can’t be called well-formed reflexive and coherent policy that in the near future will bring rapid and effective changes in terms of civic integration. As we think among the strategies of ethnic approchmant the most optimal way for Georgia is the strategy of integration. The state can develop this strategy by several ways. Creation of stable democratic environment and institutional development. Strengthening of local self – government, what’ll promote the involvement of the citizens at the local administrative level. Education system should ensure spreading of the knowledge of state language among ethnic minorities. To encourage development of urbanization in the regions compactly populated by ethnic minorities. Obviously, cooperation between state institutions and civil society organizations, and between the state and minorities, are very important in this process. Article visualizations:

Post-Soviet Business Clans in Georgia: Irrelevant Anachronisms or Serious Impediments to Georgia's Economic Development?

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, clandestine Russian-Georgian business clans have plagued the Georgian economy. The extent of these deeply entrenched business groups, directly connected with the political elite in the post-Soviet Georgia, have largely contributed to the generational regression of the Georgian economic development, and engaged in the war of attrition with the Georgian state and society. Its negative impact comprises a large part of the state-societal conflict in Georgian politics to this day. Although it is outside the scope of this article to conduct economic analyses for discovering a possible harm done to Georgia’s economy as a result of clan-based, informal business networks, it aims to elucidate the segments of the Georgian economy that might be operating in direct contradiction to the expectations of Western economic reforms and traditional principles of free markets, competitiveness, market based price formations, productivity and efficiency. This should raise a hypothetical question, that if majority of key Georgian sectors operate without regard to improving their transparency, efficiency and productivity, will the Georgian economy become compatible with the complex standards of European and Western markets? Will it exhibit synergies in which it can demonstrate profitability in the open market? Importantly, in case there is an abundance of such businesses in Georgia, should they be protected, because of their past, and possibly present privileged, murky relations with the government, or be exposed to open market competition, where they could demonstrate their ability to raise capital independently in global capital markets?These questions are not new in Georgia. Many experts have raised these points in various capacities in reaction to rampant corruption of the early nineties, the effects of which are felt today. Understandably, regaining the trust has become a generational issue. Moreover, these and other issues related to extreme favoritism and plutocratic governance in Georgia, remain to be one of the many heated political issues between the current government of the Georgian Dream Coalition (GD) and the society, to this day. Although many successful reforms have been implemented to tackle the problem of lack of social confidence in the business sector in Georgia, significant lapses in the system still remain. This article argues that one of such anomalies exists in the fertilizer production sector in Georgia.

An Evaluation of e-Learning in Eastern and Western Europe

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David in Wales has been collaborating with colleagues in Georgian State Universities to evaluate current levels of Technology Enhanced Learning usage by staff and students in each institution. The objective was to create an informed picture of the future trajectory of TEL innovation for planning purposes across both regions.This case study describes how detailed surveys of TEL usage by University staff and students were carried out in both Georgia and in Wales. The overall picture in both regions is that this is an important and rapidly developing area of educational innovation that is as much driven by staff and student adoption of emerging technologies as it is by institutional provision.Both staff and students are increasingly using their own devices to engage with teaching and learning. A further trend is the use of social media and online cloud based resources for communications and access to online learning materials. This information is now being used in the formation of new TEL strategies across the institutions.

Problems with the Drawing a State Border along the River Psou Section

The work deals with analysis of problems with the drawing a state border along the River Psou Section. The problem is difficult to solute due to the modern complex geopolitical situation in the Caucasus region, wrong decisions of the past and historical documents and cartographic sources with the inadequately shown reality. One of the major hampering factors is the state practice of territorial spacing of the former Soviet republics implying giving the state borders of a country having lost its independence a status of administrative borders. The main purpose of the study is to give the geographical-cartometry analysis of the historical transformations of the River Psou section of the Georgian state border. A lot of various cartographic sources, governmental Resolutions, historical and statistical data also were used as the basis of the study. Different factors as one of the main factors determining the historical change of this section of state border are discussed in the paper. The research was conducted in different main directions: the evaluation of historical transformations of state border throughout of XIX-XX centuries and in modern times, factors hampering the regulation of the state border, issue of the territorial belonging of village Aibga, etc. In order to study these issues have used different methods as well as GIS-technologies. The main results of research are determination of some issues connected with state border along the river Psou section: 1) the frequency of historical transformations; (2) the major factors causing this historical transformations; (3) incompliance between the existing cartographic sources and governmental resolutions in relation to the registration of all five districts of village Aibga, (4) the facts of incorrect depiction of the territorial belonging of the river Psou section in the XX-century scientific and statistical sources.

The Would-Be State: Reforms, NGOs, and Absent Presents in Postrevolutionary Georgia

In the wake of the 2003 revolution in Georgia, the speed of reform in the sphere of psychosocial aid meant that a range of international donors left the country, believing that the services provided by local NGOs, whom they had been supporting, were now taken over by the state. However, many of the reforms and institutional changes officially initiated during this period were never implemented. Hence, an array of present-day problems remained unresolved or untreated because they would be addressed by the state “in the future.” In this article, I refer to this as a would-be state: the condition of that which will be in the future and a state that gains its legitimacy by promising a better tomorrow. By rendering certain issues as unproblematic in future, the Georgian state has managed to make them appear to be unproblematic (and thus absent) in the present. I use this framework to engage in a wider discussion of the measures of success in eastern Europe's new democracies.

Sleep-related problems and restless legs syndrome in the children with learning and developmental disorders

It is known that Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is accompanied by sleep disturbances in children. Although there are used sleep and RLS questionnaire the RLS is often undiagnosed in childhood, particularly in children with learning and developmental disorders (LDD). The aim of this work was to identify RLS and sleep problems in the children living in Georgia. Participants and RLS symptoms and sleep-related problems of 1247 children (804 boys, 443 girls) aged 3–6 years, admitted at the Institute of Neurology and Neuropsychology (Tbilisi, Georgia), were analyzed using adapted Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire for Parents (PSQP). In all cases, neurological assessment, neuropsychological investigations and screening of RLS symptoms were conducted from 01.01.2010 to 10.10.2012 within the Georgian State Program: “Prevention and Early Diagnosis of Learning and Developmental Disorders in Children”. Following these investigations children were divided into two groups: with LDD ( n = 881) and Normal Developmental rate (ND, n = 366). The comparison of RLS and sleep difficulties was made between the LDD and ND groups. In overall, main symptom of RLS was indentified in 25 children (2%): 5 out of 366 (1.4%) in ND group and 20 out of 881 (2.3%) in LDD group. Significant gender difference was not found between these groups. Sleep problems such as sleep onset difficulty, daytime sleepiness and restricted nocturnal sleep with frequent awakenings, nightmares and sleep-talking were more often related to the RLS in children of LDD group than ND group. The results of presented initial study clearly indicate on the necessity of longitudinal investigations concerning an identification of sleep-related problems in children, in general, and the children with LDD, in particular, as RLS may cause negative effect on the sleep quality and neurological consequences, as well. We are thankful to Georgian state Program organizers.

Police reforms in the Republic of Georgia: the convergence of domestic and foreign policy in an anti-corruption drive

Since the 2003 revolution that brought to power President Mikheil Saakashvili, the post-Soviet Republic of Georgia has implemented a major programme of police reforms, including the mass dismissal of corrupt officers, the restructuring of police agencies, and significant changes in recruitment, training, and compensation. The reforms have eliminated many forms of corruption and have transformed what was a criminalised and dysfunctional police force into the most disciplined and service-oriented law enforcement agency in the post-Soviet region. The paper describes the scope and nature of these police reforms, analyses their effectiveness, and explains their origins. The Saakashvili government implemented police reforms as part of a broader agenda of reversing the decay of the Georgian state in the post-Soviet period and reasserting its control of the national territory and its effective independence from Georgia's neighbour, Russia. Police reforms in Georgia were also the product of a revolutionary moment in which the new government could take extraordinary measures to reshape the police. In part because the Georgian government remains domestically and internationally embattled, the reformed police have become closely associated with the Saakashvili presidency. Georgia therefore suggests that we need to rethink the different ways that democracy and state building contribute to successful police reforms.