Georgia on my mind
In the current issue of the Standard, Matt Continetti has a very interesting profile of Georgia (not the state north of Florida, but the country south of Russia). As a McCain staffer, I spent a fair amount of time on Georgia during the 2008 campaign, which Mr. Putin rudely disrupted by invading his neighbor to the south. I read a lot then about Georgia’s foreign policy, but did not learn about some of the remarkable domestic achievements of the Saakashvili governments:
As recently as 2004, there were only two hours of electricity in Tbilisi per day, crime was rampant, and the police were often no better than the crooks. Now the city has power at all times. It’s safe. The roads are paved. Street life bustles. The place is filled with restaurants and casinos. As you walk around Tbilisi, you’re reminded that economic progress and democratic governance go hand in hand…
The “youngsters,” as Saakashvili’s team is sometimes known, instituted radical changes. A minister of justice in Shevardnadze’s government, Saakashvili made his name fighting corruption. The laws against bribery were tightened and enforced. Compromised bureaucrats and police were fired. One notoriously corrupt department, the traffic police, was simply abolished. The government is proud of what it has achieved, sometimes ostentatiously so. The new ministry of internal affairs, a postmodern building resembling a lava-lamp fallen on its side, is made of glass to signify government transparency.
The changes came at a cost, however. When one fires the police, one creates an entire class of disgruntled men. The “thieves in law” did not leave Georgia without bloodshed. In the fight against organized crime, 27 policemen were killed.
A word of caution is in order about the upbeat findings of Matt’s article. As the Standard notes, he “visited Georgia on a trip sponsored by its government.” Whereas major newspapers can pay the way for their own correspondents, smaller magazines may not be able to afford such trips. Still, Matt has a few choice words of criticism for the Georgian president, describing him as “impulsive, daring and aggressive.” The article also discusses the effective confiscation of a television station critical of the government. According to the most recent report fromFreedom House,
Georgia is not an electoral democracy. The elections following the 2003 Rose Revolution were considered improvements over previous polls, but OSCE monitors have identified problems with more recent balloting, including the 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections. The flaws have included the abuse of state resources, reports of intimidation aimed at public employees and opposition activists, and apparent voter-list inaccuracies.
The report also inventories a host of other problems. Yet all in all, both the people and government of Georgia seem determined to leave the developing world behind and become a part of the West, both politically and economically — a very ambitious goal for a country that is anchored to the Caucasus.