Politics...

As one might expect, Georgian politics is complex, arcane and byzantine. In a nutshell, it is quite a mouthful. Since my understanding of it is still primitive, I will try to just offer a few rough observations based on my discussions.

Shevardnadze’s time was bad. There was no electricity, bad roads, and rampant corruption. It is a good thing that Shevardnadze left because his time had passed.

Soviet times were also bad. Even though Georgia was very rich during those years, nothing compares to sweet freedom and independence.

Rose revolution was not really a revolution. Saakashvili used to work for Shevardnadze. (Indeed he did, but he resigned a few years before the revolution. I was unable to find more about why the Rose Revolution was not a real revolution. Feel free to pick your own scenario/conspiracy theory, as I surely have.)

Saakashvili is quite controversial. There seems to be general agreement about the success of his education and police reforms. Also, people generally tend to like the better roads and more or less constant electricity supply. In general, most people tend to agree that corruption levels are lower now than before 2003.

Criticisms are varied and range from the quality of architectural lighting to concerns about foreign investment and privatization, sweeping through the whole range of political and economic issues.

My own personal assessment (unconfirmed as of yet) is that there seems to be a glaring gap between people’s expectations with Saakashvili when he first came to power, and what he was able to deliver during the several years since the Rose Revolution. To be sure, improvements are numerous and easily observable, yet the overall economic situation remains problematic and reflects in low salaries (according to one source, pensions can be as low as 15 Euro, while average salaries are around 100 Euro) coupled with high prices.

To make things more complicated, there is the perception that, despite criticism towards the President, the next elections will largely maintain the current status quo.

Finally, I must say that I left out many of juicy bits for the sake of discretion.

In the next posts I am planning to talk a little bit about Tbilisi night life. Also, depending on developments within the next few days, I may introduce you to a new and unexpected turn in my research which may just lead to some interesting findings.