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Is Georgian ‘Modernisation’ Leading the Country to Serfdom?

Security personnel on a street in Batumi, Georgia. Image by sugarmelon.com/Flickr.

Ever since the so-called Rose Revolution of 2003, the Georgain administration has been heralded as the leading reformer in the region. Presiding over a state of constant change, it has managed to convince large parts of both domestic opinion and the international community that it alone is the guarantor of modernisation and development.

Clearly, the unprecedented increase in international financial assistance has allowed Georgia’s administration to launch large-scale projects and develop the country’s institutions and infrastructure. But have modernising reforms masked the fact that the government has ridden roughshod over democratic values? Over the years, I argue, the answer to this question has been a fairly unambiguous ‘Yes’.