Author

  • Salome Minesashvili

    Dr. Salome Minesashvili is a policy analyst at the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP). She holds PhD in Political Science from Freie Universität Berlin, MSc in International Political Theory from the University of Edinburgh and MSc in Transformation in the South Caucasus from Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. She has worked in multiple research projects on the topics of foreign policy analysis, identity politics, soft power politics, EU-Eastern Neighbourhood relations, and transformation processes in the former Soviet Union.

12/05/2021 Salome Minesashvili

Why do Georgian Political Parties Struggle to Negotiate? Structural Disincentives to Compromise-Based Politics

Author

  • Salome Minesashvili

    Dr. Salome Minesashvili is a policy analyst at the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP). She holds PhD in Political Science from Freie Universität Berlin, MSc in International Political Theory from the University of Edinburgh and MSc in Transformation in the South Caucasus from Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. She has worked in multiple research projects on the topics of foreign policy analysis, identity politics, soft power politics, EU-Eastern Neighbourhood relations, and transformation processes in the former Soviet Union.

Publish Date:
12-05-2021

The recent political crisis following the contested election results of October 2020 drove both the opposition and the ruling party into a deadlock for several months, with respective displays of drastic demands and stiff resistance. The fact that they have gone through several rounds of meetings – albeit only with international facilitation – shows that both sides considered some type of agreement, at least ostensibly. However, the negotiations have on multiple occasions run into a dead-end, and only as a result of significant external pressure did the parties eventually sign the agreement, which came in the form of a document prepared and presented by a European Union representative. Why did Georgian parties struggle to compromise and negotiate even in a context of mutual interest? This brief discusses structural disincentives to the conflicting parties, which accompanied by personal interests, lead to the failure of consensus-based politics. Such contextual factors include extreme political polarization, value underpinning of the conflict, political culture of personalized politics with strong and charismatic leaders, and historical experience of political persecution.

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Salome Minesashvili

Dr. Salome Minesashvili is a policy analyst at the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP). She holds PhD in Political Science from Freie Universität Berlin, MSc in International Political Theory from the University of Edinburgh and MSc in Transformation in the South Caucasus from Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. She has worked in multiple research projects on the topics of foreign policy analysis, identity politics, soft power politics, EU-Eastern Neighbourhood relations, and transformation processes in the former Soviet Union.