News

On December 14, GIP presented the Georgia Governance Index (GGI). 

The GGI report is the first attempt to offer a comprehensive assessment of Georgia’s performance in four governance areas: democracy and human rights (democratic governance), statehood, and state institutions (effective governance), social and economic policies (social and economic governance), and foreign and security policy (external governance). 

The index was presented in Tbilisi with the aim of better informing the Georgian public and international community about the challenges inherent to Georgia’s governance and democratization processes. During the presentation, GIP shared the key GGI findings with the wider public, civil society, and field experts including expert survey results.  The event continued in a Q&A mode after the presentation in an open discussion format (👉 Program). (more…)

On December 8, 2021, the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP), together with the Heinrich Boell Foundation Tbilisi Office – South Caucasus Region (HBF), organized presentations of a series of articles papers focused on the new geopolitical realities in the South Caucasus after the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. 

The authors were selected within the framework of the project “Analyzing Geopolitical Shifts in the South Caucasus.” The event aimed to enhance discussions about geopolitical changes in the South Caucasus and future policy options with stakeholders from the region, from Germany, and the EU. (more…)

On December 7, the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP), together with the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE, Moldova) and Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation (ACGRC, Armenia), organized an online workshop titled “Assessing Polarization in the EaP Countries: Mixed Record.” 

The workshop brought together experts, civil society representatives, and media from Georgia, Moldova, and Armenia, searching for successful examples of addressing polarizations, sharing experiences on the challenges to democracy building and ways forward. (more…)

On December 4-5, the Georgian Institute of Politics launched Emerging Leaders School (ELS) 2022. 

ELS2022 brings together twenty-five active, change-oriented young people selected through intense competition. Over the next six months, with the help of the invited experts, participants will have the opportunity to learn about political and social issues they are interested in. Additionally, these young people will participate in non-formal discussions with decision-makers, share their points of view, and be part of the Youth Democracy Forum. (more…)

On December 1, 2021, the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP), together with the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) and Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER), hosted the conference “Analysing the Role of CSOs in DCFTA Implementation in the Trio States – Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine”.

The event was moderated by Prof. Dr. Michael EMERSON, a Senior Research Fellow and Project Leader of 3dcftas.eu, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).

The conference aimed to present the essential findings and recommendations of the joint report developed by Georgian, Moldovan, and Ukrainian researchers about the role of civil society organizations in the implementation of the DCFTAs in the Associated Trio. (more…)

Shota Kakabadze and Bidzina Lebanidze

Originally published by D.Rad

The country report produced for the D.Rad, analyzes legal and policy frameworks for deradicalization and integration in Georgia. It unpacks the existing laws and policies, addresses radicalization issues, identifies major gaps and flaws, and provides policy-relevant recommendations on how to improve legal and policy frameworks. After providing a brief contextual and historical overview of radicalization and deradicalization policies and practices in Georgia, the report focuses on two particular case studies of attempted deradicalization by the Georgian state authorities: the government’s policy response to Islamist radicalization in the Pankisi Gorge and radicalization motivated by Orthodox Christian fundamentalists.  (more…)

A high-level forum On Defending Against Authoritarianism took place in Vilnius, 19-20 November 2021. The forum gathered high-caliber policy-makers, intellectuals, and various activists connected to democracy to address the main challenges for democracy in the world. The forum aimed to assist in laying, with discussions and documents, the groundwork for the Democracy Summit on 9-10 December 2021. 

Worldwide, democracy faces different challenges which have become quite complex recently. Attendees of the event discussed main issues and challenges in terms of emerging radical political powers that are strengthening and questioning liberal democracy.  (more…)

On 18 November 2021, the director of the Georgian Institute of Politics Prof. Kornely Kakachia was invited to speak at the third event of the edition of the Natolin Neighbourhood Days, which took place under the overarching title: “Post-coloniality in the EU’s Eastern and Southern ‘Neighbourhoods’: Something Old, Something New”. The event was organized by the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair at the College of Europe in Natolin.

The panel discussion, titled: “Looking/Moving beyond the ‘post-Soviet’: EU’s Eastern neighbours and their decolonial drive thirty years aweather?”, applied postcolonial theory as a lens to analyzing major events and developments in Eastern Europe, including the Soviet disintegration and European integration trends, domestic political transformation and troubled democratization. (more…)

On November 15, the Georgian Institute of Politics organized a closed presentation with experts working on DCFTA in the Associated countries. The meeting participants reviewed the draft version of the report on the Georgian case, which evaluates the role of civil society in the process of EU-Georgia Deep and Comprehensive Trade Agreement implementation. The working document developed by Georgian researchers about the Georgian case is part of the joint report, which will be published at the end of November based on an assessment of the progress of Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The meeting comments provided by experts will be incorporated in the final version of the report, which will be published at the end of November.  (more…)

On November 9-13, in the framework of the project #GEOYOUTH2021, a study trip in Berlin took place for the youth initiative groups supported by the Georgian Institute of Politics in cooperation with the German organization Polis180. 

The visit aimed at meeting with representatives of the local governmental and non-governmental organizations in Germany for an exchange on the main theme of  #GEOYOUTH2021: empowering young people to be more involved in local politics. (more…)

On November 4-5, the Georgian Institute of Politics with the support of the Lithuanian Embassy to Georgia organized a two-day event: presentation of the policy paper “Government Coalitions and Consensus Politics: Lessons from Lithuania” and the Autumn session of the School on Party Politics. The events were held within the framework of the project “Promoting Consensus-Based Political Culture in Georgia”.

H.E. Andrius Kalindra, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to Georgia opened the events, underlining the context for sharing the Lithuanian experience. (more…)

This statement is issued in response to the process of the 2021 Municipal Elections. Despite the fact that the existing legislation and the recent election reform have created conditions for carrying out elections of high democratic quality, it is unfortunate that the lack of political will on the part of the ruling party has made us miss out on this important opportunity. In terms of technical administration, Election Day was conducted mostly in accordance with the rules established by the law. However, the irregularities identified by the local and international observation missions during the pre-election period and in the process of voting and vote counting on Election (more…)

📌 On October 21, 2021, the Director of Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP) Prof. Kornely Kakachia participated in the presentation of the study “Georgia’s Political Landscape: Diversity, Convergence and Empty Spots” hosted by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Georgia and based on data of “Election Compass Georgia 2020”. 

🟣 GIP Policy analyst Levan Kakhishvili co-authored the study, together with Davit Keshelava (ISET-Policy Institute), Giorgi Papava (ISET-Policy Institute) and Davit Sichinava (CRRC Georgia). 

Main Findings:

(more…)

📍 On 19 October, MEP Andrius Kubilius and Ramūnas Stanionis presented a policy memo – “Eastern Partnership ‘Beyond Westlessness”: a New Momentum For The European Integration”, to the Georgian media at an online briefing organized by the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP).
🇪🇺 The policy memo drafted by MEP Andrius Kubilius with Ramūnas Stanionis, Policy Advisor to MEP at the European Parliament, emphasizes that before full EU membership it’s important to get an intermediate EU membership status. MEPs talked about benefits related to ‘accelerated integration”. (more…)

📌 On October 16-17 Georgian Institute of Politics launched the third and fourth thematic Working Groups on the topics – The role of young people in Georgia’s foreign policy and Youth Employment.

The 3rd group of active ELS alumni will discuss possibilities for young people to have more impact on Georgia’s foreign policy, with the mentorship of Levan Tsutskiridze, Executive Director of Eastern European Centre for Multiparty Democracy. (more…)