Georgia’s Libertarian Revolution. Part one: Georgia as a model
Georgia’s Libertarian Revolution. Part one: Georgia as a model

Author(s): Author Not Specified
Subject(s): Present Times (2010 - today), Post-Communist Transformation
Published by: ESI – European Stability Initiative
Keywords: conflict Russia-Georgia;
Summary/Abstract: In November 2003, Georgia‟s long-time ruler, president Eduard Shevardnadze, was pushed to resign following weeks of non-violent protests in the streets of Tbilisi. On 4 January 2004, the lawyer Mikheil Saakashvili was elected president with 96 percent of the vote. He was 37 at the time; all of his most trusted associates and ministers – the interior minister, chief prosecutor, minister of defence – were also in their thirties. Mikheil Saakashvili had studied in France and at Columbia University in the US. Six of the 20 ministers in his first government had previously worked for NGOs supported by Western funding in Georgia.11 They saw themselves promoting a generational change project – even a cultural revolution. Under Saakashvili‟s leadership, they set out to push through a series of radical reforms, first concentrating power in the hands of the executive, and then using their revolutionary mandate to transform their country.

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