The Georgia Governance Index (GGI) 2024

The Georgia Governance Index (GGI) evaluates Georgia’s governance in four principal domains: democracy and human rights (democratic governance), the efficiency of state institutions (effective governance), socio-economic policies (socio-economic governance), and foreign and security policy (external governance). While concentrating primarily on Georgian state institutions, the GGI also examines the roles of other entities, such as political parties and civil society organizations.

Despite the numerous global and regional indices that feature Georgia, a detailed, country- specific annual review of Georgia’s governance performance remains absent. To date, no Georgia-focused research has undertaken such an analysis. The GGI not only complements international indices with its methodology and empirical data but also offers a distinctive perspective from within the country, alongside innovative methodological approaches. The index aims to inform the Georgian public and various stakeholders about the country’s democratic and economic developments, responding to the growing demand for an all-encompassing report on these issues.

Methodologically, the GGI integrates both qualitative and quantitative research methods and epistemologies. Its scoring system derives from the GGI Expert Survey, conducted with 47 experts from various fields in Georgia, and is enhanced by qualitative research performed by the GIP team. The current report represents the fourth iteration of the GGI. Similar to the previous reports, the 2024 report presents negative trend acceleration with unfavorable outcomes of the state of democracy in Georgia. In the past year, Georgia saw a drastic deterioration in governance across various sectors, fueled by government efforts to tighten authoritarian control, resulting in near-total state capture. Popular resistance acts as the ultimate check on power; however, this troubling trend has eroded the country’s democratic institutions, weakened the rule of law, and undermined public trust in government accountability. The rise in political and ideological divergence, escalating radicalization, the ruling party’s use of demonization tactics, and the adoption of the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence have further eroded democratic resilience and led the country to deep political crisis. Additionally, the government’s actions have strained Georgia’s relationships with its Western partners, jeopardizing its Euro-Atlantic aspirations. As a result, the low scores in the Expert Surveys were expected, as they mirror the ongoing political crisis in the country. However, we also recognize that not all aspects which influence all areas of governance— from foreign policy to democratic governance and from economic development to effective governance can be fully captured through numerical scores alone. The report covers the period until November 28, 2024, when GD announced stopping EU negotiations, followed by accelerated repressive measures in the country. Escalation of violence against peaceful protesters, attacks against media, civil society and expert community, including some of those interviewed for this Index, could not be included in the report, as the situation was still unfolding at the time of writing.

The report has been produced with the financial support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Georgia. The contents are the sole responsibility of the Georgian Institute of Politics and can under no circumstance be regarded as reflecting the position of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Georgia.