In our latest episode of the special series produced in partnership with the Journal of Democracy, we discuss the recent article by Ghia Nodia, entitled “Georgia: Between Democracy and Autocracy” (Journal of Democracy, Vol. 37, No.2, April 2026).
Over the last couple of years, Georgia has frequently been in foreign news due to two related issues. Firstly, in 2024, the current Georgian government, after a failed initial attempt, has adopted the law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence,” thereby joining a global trend of countries adopting so-called “Foreign Agents Laws.” While facially claiming to protect a country against threats posed by foreign interference, such laws are often used by governments with authoritarian tendencies to suppress their country’s civil society. The second related issue is the long protests of Georgian civil society against the authoritarian tendencies of the incumbent party, Georgian Dream. Georgia is known for its vibrant and active civil society, which has often shown its willingness to take to the streets and confront its government. In a recent article in the Journal of Democracy, Ghia Nodia analyzes the hybridity of the Georgian state resulting from these opposing tendencies and asks in which direction the country is headed: Democracy or Autocracy.
Ghia Nodia is a professor of political science at Ilia State University and director of the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy, and Development in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Democracy. In 2008, Prof. Nodia served as Georgia’s Minister of Education and Science.
