Foreign Affairs: Georgia’s Western Turn – The Elections and After”

Georgia – the small post-Soviet country at the crossroads of East and West – is finding its feet and moving forwards on a path filled with opportunity.

In a piece for Foreign Affairs and published by the Council on Foreign Relations, authors Dennis Sammut and Joseph D’Urso say democracy has been in retreat across Eurasia in recent years, and in many countries, the lure of Western political models has faded. But Georgia has been an exception. 

Over the past four years, the country’s media and civil society have flourished and the government has pursued a robust program of reforms. And Tbilisi’s pro-Western policies enjoy solid support from Georgian citizens, they say.

Since regaining independence 25 years ago, the country has gone from turbulence to tranquility, thus Georgia’s current stability and pro-Western stance was hardly inevitable. 

Next month the country will host its parliamentary elections, the results of which will determine whether the democratic trajectory of the past few years will continue.

In all likelihood, the new parliament will press forward on its current path after October. Georgia's Western partners should welcome that outcome. For its part, Georgia needs to press forward with its economic and political reforms.”

The article gives a thorough but relatively brief history of the country; since its independence in 1991 Georgia has seen civil war, secessions, war with Russia and political turmoil and the changing leadership styles of Eduard Shevardnadze to Mikheil Saakashvili and more recently Bidzina Ivanishvili and the current Georgian Dream government.

The piece goes on to describe the current opportunities open to Georgia through its efforts to move towards the West, particularly NATO membership and becoming part of the EU, but in the near future, its efforts to gain a visa-free deal with the EU.

Sammut and D’Urso believe next month’s elections will be fair and regardless of the outcome, Georgia’s current path will remain on track.

Unless there is some kind of political earthquake, a large bipartisan majority in the new parliament will support pro-NATO and pro-EU policies. But it is also likely that one or two of the smaller parties that oppose or are ambivalent about Georgia’s pro-Western orientation will take seats, too. Like the uncertainties of Georgia’s neighbourhood, that is a reminder that neither Tbilisi nor its friends in the West can afford to be complacent about Georgia's progress.

Read the full article here: www.foreignaffairs.com