Church and Politics or Church in Politics: How does the Georgian Orthodox Church Impact Georgia’s European Integration Policy?

Vladimer Narsia This policy brief analyzes the role of the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) in Georgian society, particularly in the context of promoting the European integration process. The paper consists of three sections: sermons and preaching that influence European integration policy; the Church...
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GIP Hosted International Conference – “Democratization and Europeanization Agenda During Uncertain times: Georgia in Focus” #GEODEM2018

While Georgia has made an impressive progress on Europeanization agenda, its capacity to consolidate democracy is still uncertain. To discuss the prospects and challenges of Georgia’s democratization and Europeanization, on 2 May, 2018, the Georgian Institute of Politics with support of the Nation...
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Compendium of Policy Briefs 2018

Bidzina Lebanidze, Joseph Larsen, Levan Kakhishvili, Ivanna Machitidze Consisting of four policy briefs, the publication introduces policy recommendations on major aspects of Georgia’s Europeanization and democratization agenda,  particularly on the influence of Western political conditionality o...
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Causing Trouble for Democracies: Should Georgia Look West to Learn Russia’s Strategy?

Ivanna Machitidze The combination of democratic promotion and democratic consolidation has long become a catch phrase for states to be recognized as high-achievers and their societies to be labelled as free. The West, the driving force of both processes, has underestimated the risk that the fruits o...
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Democratic consolidation in Georgia: Why does consensus matter?

Levan Kakhishvili The lack of democratic consolidation in Georgia has become an increasingly important challenge against the background of rising populism and democratic backsliding in Europe and North America. It is widely believed that the European Union’s (EU) policy of conditionality has been ...
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The Georgian Orthodox Church as a Civil Actor: Challenges and Capabilities

Salome Minesashvili Religious organizations as civil actors with social capital can play significant roles in social reform processes, examples of which being the African Church in South Africa and representatives of the Catholic Church in Latin America. The Importance of churches as civil actors...
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Is Democracy Possible without Stable Political Parties?

Levan Kakhishvili Strong political parties represent the cornerstone of consolidated democracies. Parties contend for office in elections. Therefore, a strong link between parties and voters is of primary importance to the success of elections. Strong and stable party-voter linkages ensure that demo...
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