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Javni organi i proaktivno objavljivanje informacija u Bosni i Hercegovini: Kako izuzetke pretvoriti u pravilo

Author(s): Dino Jahić / Language(s): Bosnian

The analysis that follows shows how the five state institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) have managed to develop proactive transparency, despite the lack of uniform legislation and an organized systemic approach to this issue. In addition to international standards and comparative practices in this area, as well as the legal framework governing proactive publishing in BiH, most of the analysis is based on interviews with representatives of five institutions identified by the Center for Social Research Analytics conducted in mid-2014. as the most successful examples of proactive transparency. The institutions with the highest degree of proactive transparency are: the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, the BiH Civil Service Agency, the BiH Ministry of Finance and Treasury, the BiH Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance, and the BiH Agency for Identification Documents, Records and Data Exchange (IDDEEA) . Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of these five public bodies in December 2014, on the basis of which the central part of this analysis was prepared.

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Local Communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Potential of Neglected Institutions

Author(s): Mirna Jusić / Language(s): English

Results of research on local communities (LCs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) presented in this policy brief indicate that their participation in various local issues is of direct importance to community needs. The research also points to a variety of possible roles that LCs could undertake depending on community needs. However, most LCs in BiH have been left de facto without tasks, capacities and resources, with their role reduced to representative bodies without the institutional memory necessary for continuity of their work. This policy brief features a number of recommendations for the improvement of the institutional development of LCs, as well as their various functions.

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Open Government Partnership and Action Planning: Approach, Challenges and Practice

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): English

On September 24, at the United Nations Headquarters, the Open Government Partnership formally welcomed Bosnia and Herzegovina as the 65th country to join the OGP. The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is an international voluntary initiative established on the principles of transparency, accountability and public participation. Launched in 2011 with the aim to provide an international platform for domestic reformers committed to making their governments more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens, the OGP has grown from eight countries to the 65 participating countries today. In all of these countries, government and civil society are working together to develop and implement ambitious open government reforms. Today there are more than 2000 initiatives implemented by different countries under the OGP, with the purpose of making governments more accountable and open. Different countries joined the initiative at different times, so some of them are now implementing their second Action Plan, some are implementing their first Action Plan and the most recent members, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, will be developing their first action plans. It is expected that Bosnia and Herzegovina will submit its first Action Plan to OGP by June 2015. The purpose of this Policy memo is to outline key elements of action planning and suggest possible avenues for approaching the action planning process in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the following period, as the country is about to start working on its first Action Plan.

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Rezultati ankete: Odnos građana Bosne i Hercegovine prema principima Partnerstva za otvorenu vlast

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): Bosnian

“Partnerstvo za otvorenu vlast” (Open Government Partnership - OGP) je multilateralna inicijativa za transparentnost i otvorenost vlasti u kojoj učestvuje 60 zemalja. Iako Bosna i Hercegovina (BiH) ispunjava osnovne uslove pristupa ovoj važnoj međunarodnoj inicijativi, vlasti u BiH još uvijek nisu izrazile spremnost da se uključe u “Partnerstvo za otvorenu vlast”, pa je tako BiH jedina zemlja zapadnog Balkana pored Kosova koja nije dio inicijative. U okviru projekta “Zagovaranje za otvorenu vlast: Pravo da znam u Jugoistočnoj Evropi”, Centar za društvena istraživanja Analitika pokreće niz istraživačkih i zagovaračkih aktivnosti kako bi se ova inicijativa promovirala u BiH.

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Kako reformirati dom naroda parlamentarne skupštine BiH? Izazovi izvršenja presude u predmetu Sejdić i Finci protiv BiH

Author(s): Nenad Stojanović,Edin Hodžić / Language(s): Bosnian

U reformiranju Doma naroda Parlamentarne skupštine BiH, u skladu s presudom Evropskog suda za ljudska prava u predmetu Sejdić i Finci protiv Bosne i Hercegovine, svakako se može slijediti ili model Doma naroda Parlamenta Federacije BiH ili Vijeća naroda Republike Srpske. Formula je naizgled jednostavna: ako je impertiv zadržavanje postojećih nadležnoti ovog tijela zakonodavne vlasti Bosne i Hercegovine, onda je nužno da on, poput Doma naroda Parlamenta Federacije BiH, bude otvoren i za delegate iz kategorije „ostalih”. Ako se, pak, želi zadržati njegova trenutna struktura i uloga doma konstuvnih naroda, onda je nužno reduciranje njegovih nadležnosti po modelu Vijeća naroda Republike Srpske. No, i u tim varijantama reforme prisutne su mnoge nedoumice, uključujući i pitanje izbora delegata iz svih konstitutivnih naroda u oba entiteta i problem izbora, pozicije i uloge delegata iz reda „ostalih“ u reformiranom Domu naroda Parlamentarne skupštine BiH.

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Kako pristupiti izradi akcionog plana Bosne i Hercegovine u okviru Partnerstva za otvorenu vlast?

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): Bosnian

Bosna i Hercegovina (BiH) je 24. septembra 2014. godine postala 65. članica multilateralne inicijative Partnerstvo za otvorenu vlast (Open Government Partnership – OGP), čiji je cilj podstaći institucije vlasti da postanu transparentnije i odgovornije prema svojim građanima. U tom smislu, Partnerstvo za otvorenu vlast nastoji promovirati transparentnost rada javne uprave, učešće građana u donošenju odluka, uspostavljanje mehanizama za pozivanje vlasti na odgovornost i upotrebu novih informacijsko-komunikacijskih tehnologija za unapređenje otvorenosti vlasti i saradnje između građana i javnih institucija. Kako bi ovi okvirni ciljevi bili postignuti, u skladu sa samim konceptom Partnerstva, vlade i civilno društvo u državama članicama treba zajednički da rade na planiranju i provođenju ambicioznih reformi. Zbog toga se nakon pristupanja države inicijativi očekuje da ona u određenom roku izradi i Sekretarijatu Partnerstva podnese akcioni plan za implementaciju reformi u navedenim oblastima. Riječ je o dvogodišnjem planu aktivnosti, u kojem se definiraju prioriteti za državu u odnosu na ključne oblasti OGP-a i kojim se članice obavezuju na ispunjavanje ciljeva iz Deklaracije o otvorenoj vlasti. Od BiH se očekuje da preda svoj akcioni plan do kraja juna 2015. godine. Prema kalendaru OGP-a, predviđeno je da od januara do juna 2015. institucije vlasti, u saradnji sa civilnim društvom, sačine akcioni plan. Pri tome treba imati u vidu da se, na osnovu iskustava iz prvog kruga izrade akcionih planova, obaveze koje su države u okviru OGP-a preuzimale mogu grupirati u sedam tematskih oblasti: 1. Učešće javnosti – uključivanje građana u donošenje javnih politika 2. Integritet vlasti – suzbijanje korupcije i jačanje demokratskih institucija 3. Sloboda pristupa informacijama – garantiranje javnog pristupa vladinim podacima 4. Fiskalna transparentnost – pomoć građanima u praćenju trošenja javnog novca 5. Pružanje javnih usluga – da usluge budu od koristi građanima 6. Transparentnost kod ekstraktivnih resursa – da se prihodi od ekstraktivnih resursa koriste za javne svrhe 7. Otvorenost podataka – digitalizacija i otvaranje javnosti vladinih podataka u svrhu transparentnosti i pristupa informacijama Posebno je važno naglasiti da rad na akcionom planiranju podrazumijeva blisku saradnju između relevantnih javnih institucija i organizacija civilnog društva u definiranju prioriteta i planova aktivnosti. Jačanje dijaloga i saradnje između vlasti i civilnog društva smatra se ključnim korakom u izradi i implementaciji akcionog plana, što je jedan od glavnih ciljeva Partnerstva. Zato se od vlada zahtijeva da u okviru Partnerstva, između ostalog, podnose izvještaje i o kvalitetu dijaloga i saradnje sa civilnim društvom tokom izrade i implementacije akcionog plana. Pored toga, saradnja između vlade i civilnog društva ocjenjuje se i u okviru nezavisnog mehanizma izvještavanja o izradi i implementaciji akcionog plana. Ozbiljan je problem, međutim, to što se u BiH, mjesecima nakon zvaničnog prijema države u OGP, ništa suštinski nije preduzelo na ovom planu, tako da ni u aprilu 2015. godine, samo tri mjeseca prije roka za podnošenje akcionog plana, proces izrade akcionog plana nije pokrenut. Imajući u vidu da je akcioni plan potrebno pripremiti i podnijeti do kraja juna 2015. godine, postavlja se pitanje da li je u preostala tri mjeseca moguće pokrenuti proces akcionog planiranja i pri tome provesti široke konsultacije u skladu sa standardima i principima Partnerstva? Drugo je pitanje na koji način koncipirati proces konsultacija prilikom izrade akcionog plana tako da se uključi što širi krug zainteresiranih aktera i da se dobiju što kvalitetniji prijedlozi?

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Mjesne zajednice u Bosni i Hercegovini: Potencijal zanemarenih institucija

Author(s): Mirna Jusić / Language(s): Bosnian

Rezultati istraživanja o mjesnim zajednicama (MZ) u Bosni i Hercegovini (BiH), prezentirani u ovom sažetku, ukazuju na to da je njihovo učešće u različitim lokalnim pitanjima od direktne važnosti za potrebe stanovnika zajednice. Istraživanje također ukazuje na različite moguće uloge koje bi MZ mogle obavljati u zavisnosti od potreba zajednice. Ipak, većina MZ-a u BiH je de facto ostala bez zadataka, kapaciteta i sredstava, te je reducirana na predstavnička tijela bez institucionalne memorije neophodne za kontinuitet rada. Ovaj policy sažetak sadrži niz preporuka za unapređenje institucionalnog razvoja MZ-a, kao i njihovih različitih funkcija.

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Mjesne zajednice u Bosni i Hercegovini - Izazovi i perspektive institucionalnog razvoja

Author(s): Mirna Jusić / Language(s): Bosnian

Mjesne zajednice u Bosni i Hercegovini (u daljnjem tekstu: BiH) već dugo se smatraju ostavštinom iz jugoslovenske prošlosti. Ove podopćinske jedinice, koje su u bivšoj Jugoslaviji osnovane kao centri mjesne samouprave, bile su prostori za učešće građana u rješavanju problema u zajednici. Nakon pada bivšeg socijalističkog sistema i rata od 1992. do 1995. godine, došlo je do novog političkog ustroja, a mjesne zajednice su zanemarene. U posljednje vrijeme, mjesnim zajednicama (u daljnjem tekstu: MZ) sve veću pažnju posebno posvećuju međunarodne i nevladine organizacije. Vjeruje se da kao zakonski priznate podopćinske jedinice, MZ imaju potencijal da podstaknu učešće građana. Anketa koju su 2012. godine proveli Centri civilnih inicijativa (CCI) u 14 općina u BiH pokazala je da su ispitanici, među različitim vidovima učešća na lokalnom nivou, bili najbolje upoznati sa mogućnosti učešća kroz MZ (74,6%) i da je MZ među najčešće korištenim participatornim mehanizmima (33,2%). Iako podaci ankete iz 20 općina, objavljeni u studiji Svjetske banke iz 2009. godine, ukazuju na to da većina građana nije imala iskustvo učešća u aktivnostima svoje zajednice, a od ispitanika koji su imali to iskustvo 81% opisalo je sastanke savjeta MZ-a kao najkorisniji vid učešća na lokalnom nivou. Stoga ne iznenađuje da su brojni projekti koje su do sada implementirale različite organizacije usmjereni na jačanje MZ-a. Neke su inicijative tražile izmjenu pravnog statusa i zagovarale minimum standarda u funkcioniranju MZ-a kroz lokalne akte, dok su druge bile usmjerene na jačanje kapaciteta mjesnih zajednica. Ipak, i dalje su prisutne brojne prepreke funkcioniranju MZ-a. Neki autori kao izazove navode, između ostalog, nedostatak formalnih nadležnosti ovih tijela, nedostatak finansijske nezavisnosti i nekonzistentne budžetske alokacije općina prema MZ-u, kao i utjecaj političkih partija na izbore članova savjeta i predsjednika MZ-a. Studija Svjetske banke pokazala je velike razlike u poznavanju aktivnosti MZ-a, kao i u praksama učešća u njima među lokalnim respondentima u različitim općinama: drugim riječima, MZ mogu biti manje ili više aktivne ili mogu obnašati različite uloge u zavisnosti od lokacije. Studija o komunalnim uslugama u Gradu Sarajevu iz 2013. godine govori o potencijalu urbanih MZ-a da budu spona između stanovništva i vlasti, ali ukazuje i na nezadovoljstvo radom MZ-a koje su stanovnici izrazili. To nezadovoljstvo proizlazi iz percepcije nedostatka efikasnosti MZ-a, kao i njihove nesposobnosti da pomognu građanima da svoje probleme komuniciraju prema višim nivoima vlasti. Razumijevanje funkcioniranja MZ-a u BiH, kao i konteksta u kojem ove institucije rade, otežano je zbog nedostatka sveobuhvatnih istraživanja u ovoj oblasti. Dosadašnja istraživanja o MZ-u ponudila su parcijalni uvid u različite aspekte rada MZ-a u praksi. Nedostaju osnovni podaci o MZ-u, uključujući pouzdane podatke o njihovom broju. Generalno, ne postoje službeni podaci ili procjene o broju MZ-a u BiH i takve podatke ne prikupljaju statistički uredi. Rijetke su empirijske studije o ovoj temi, a dosadašnje analize njihovog rada uglavnom su bile fokusirane na zakonski okvir koji regulira rad MZ-a. Istraživanje prezentirano u ovoj studiji urađeno je kako bi se na sistematičan način upoznali sa praksama MZ-a širom BiH i na osnovu toga ponudile preporuke za unapređenje njihova rada. Imajući u vidu nedostatak osnovnih podataka, analizirati rad MZ-a u BiH i na smislen način postaviti hipoteze o kontekstualnim faktorima koji utječu na njihov rad predstavlja izazov. Zbog navedenih poteškoća, istraživanje je uglavnom eksploratorno. Ono nastoji dati uvid u rad MZ-a i opisati njihovo funkcioniranje. Studija je strukturirana na sljedeći način: U sljedećem, drugom, poglavlju, prezentiran je pregled koncepata koji se odnose na podopćinsku upravu ili upravu na nivou susjedstva, a slijedi ga poglavlje o komparativnim praksama mjesnih zajednica u zemljama bivše Jugoslavije. Četvrto i peto poglavlje sadrže analitički okvir i dizajn istraživanja. U šestom poglavlju prezentirani su nalazi istraživanja, strukturirani prema ključnim aspektima funkcioniranja mjesnih zajednica. Nakon toga slijedi zaključak i preporuke.

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Partnerstvo za otvorenu vlast i akciono planiranje: pristup, izazovi i prakse

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): Bosnian

Dvadeset četvrtog septembra, u sjedištu Ujedinjenih nacija, Partnerstvo za otvorenu vlast zvanično je poželjelo dobrodošlicu Bosni i Hercegovini (dalje u tekstu: BiH) kao svojoj 65. zemlji članici. Partnerstvo za otvorenu vlast (Open Government Partnership - OGP) je međunarodna dobrovoljna inicijativa ustanovljena na principima transparentnosti, odgovornosti i učešća javnosti. Pokrenuto 2011. godine kako bi pružalo međunarodnu platformu za domaće reformatore odlučne da svoje vlade učine otvorenijim, odgovornijim te pristupačnijim za građane, Partnerstvo je naraslo od osam do 65 zemalja članica. U svim tim zemljama, vlada i civilno društvo zajednički rade na razvoju i implementiranju ambicioznih reformi za otvorenu vlast. Danas postoji preko 2000 inicijativa koje implementiraju razne zemlje u okviru Partnerstva, a sve kako bi svoje vlade učinile otvorenijim i odgovornijim. Zemlje članice su se pridruživale u različitim trenucima, tako da neke od njih sada implementiraju svoj drugi akcioni plan, neke prvi, a najnovije članice, uključujući BiH, će tek razvijati svoj prvi akcioni plan. Očekuje se da će BiH predati svoj prvi akcioni plan do kraja juna 2015. godine. S obzirom na to da BiH počinje raditi na svom prvom akcionom planu, ovaj policy memorandum ima za cilj skicirati ključne elemente tog procesa i predložiti moguće pravce pristupa procesu akcionog planiranja u BiH.

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How European Are We? Explaining Georgia’s Westward Aspiration

Author(s): Salome Minesashvili / Language(s): English

Georgia’s European foreign policy choice is often claimed to be the reflection of its national identity, more specifically its self-perception as a European nation striving to return to the European family. The following paper analyses this claim. More specifically it explores the extent to which mass attitudes conform to this officially voiced stance of the country. First, it explores Georgian society’s concurrence with aspirations of Euro-Atlantic integration and seeks to scrutinize the extent to which these aspirations stem from shared values, that is to say to what extent European identity is embedded in Georgian society. For this purpose, I refer to a thin version of European identity implying universal values. Based on the analysis of mass attitudes via public opinion polls, I argue that, although official aspirations for Euro-Atlantic integration are massively shared, some of the basic values of European identity have a weak support in Georgian society. Low awareness of Europe in terms of its values, institutions and policies is pointing to the fact that Georgians have an abstract idea of Europe. Thus this paper suggests that general support for European integration in Georgia is better explained by the anticipation of economic benefit than it is by Georgia’s sharing of European values. Moreover, the analysis suggests that Westward aspirations are mainly a project of the political elite.

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Material Deprivation and the Outcomes of Elections

Author(s): Alexi Gugushvili / Language(s): English

This study shows that the district level outcomes in the 2012 parliamentary elections in Georgia are significantly associated with the mean household deprivation levels. This effect is statistically significant after controlling for the regional dummies, urbanisation level, current district’s population size, the proportion of orthodox population, local ideological preferences, and the rate of turnout on the election day. The OLS models of the share of received votes in the proportional system and the logit models of the odds of victory of a party candidate in the majoritarian contest both reveal that the districts with the lowest and highest material deprivation levels were more likely to vote for the oppositional coalition. The results are robust even after excluding from the analysis two fraud-prone regions of Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli.

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Development and the Role of the State; Visions of Post-Revolutionary Georgian Government

Author(s): Lela Rekhviashvili / Language(s): English

The current research attempts to offer an account of the post-revolutionary ruling elite’s discourse on development and its transformation over time. This is not an attempt to assess what the government did concerning development, but what the government said or promised. Despite the fact that issues like democratization, security, ethnic conflicts, and foreign relations affect developmental outcomes, this paper will limit itself to social and economic targets, reforms and achievements, as communicated by the Georgian government. The questions that the research aims to answer are: What was the developmental trajectory communicated by the Georgian government since 2003 to domestic and international audiences? What kind of role did the Georgian government project in social and economic development? The recent electoral success of the Georgian Dream (GD) coalition placed the former ruling party, the United National Movement (UNM), in opposition. As it is too early to interpret the development discourse of the new government as well as the new opposition, the scope of the current research will be limited to the period since the revolution to September 2012.

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Georgia from the Outside: The Path to Democracy

Author(s): Lela Rekhviashvili / Language(s): English

Georgia’s 2003 “Rose Revolution” capitalized on the popular discontent with the corrupt and ineffective government and ushered in hope for freedom, democracy and prosperity. This hope and enthusiasm was true domestically and internationally as well. International observers were keenly looking forward to a new wave of democratization that would now finally sweep over the former Soviet space. Domestically, people were looking forward to a government that would finally hear their voices and prioritize the state interest over their personal. // Saakashvili and his government have proven to be enthusiastic advertisers of own performance. Contrasting the achievements since 2003 with the dark and decayed times of Shevardnadze’s government has been particularly pervasive. However, while progress is visible in some areas, when it comes to democracy, the performance is widely considered to be less than perfect. // To measure the performance this paper looks at various international indices, which assign numerical value and standing to different countries around the world. While narrative assessments are much more numerous and may well provide more details, this paper looks specifically at those resources that allow for comparison of countries performance across pre-defined components/indicators and do so across time, thus showing development trends. These indices and rankings are widely used and internationally recognized scholarly resources. While all approaches and methodologies have inherent limitations and their criticism abounds, these resources still provide valuable data. It is worth noting, additionally, that despite using divergent methodologies, the findings of all of these resources largely point in the same direction and the correlation between the assessments is recognized to be significant.

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Politics and Religion in Contemporary Georgia: the Russian Model and its possible Adoption

Author(s): Alexander Orlov,Salome Giunashvili / Language(s): English

Georgia’s future hangs in the balance as the ruling Georgian Dream coalition attempts to derail the country’s democratic progress. Once a frontrunner among Eastern Partnership countries, Georgia now fails to demonstrate progress and meet the requirement in order to be considered a candidate for EU membership. While the prospects for European integration of Georgia are tempered by several serious challenges relating to the country’s broader backsliding democracy, the Georgian Dream coalition seems determined to level up its authoritarian inclinations by attempting to impose new restrictive norms. With this goal in mind, the Georgian government employed a well-known chapter from the Kremlin playbook. With the Russian-style law on foreign agents intended to impose repressive measures against pro-democracy activists and media outlets, the ruling party revealed its desire to adopt Russian political practices.

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Georgia’s Backsliding from Democracy. Is the Russian Path Dependency on the rise?

Author(s): Boris Grozovsky,David Darchiashvili / Language(s): English

In Russia, Putin won an uncontested victory, but in Georgia the struggle is far from over. The opposition did not disappear, opposition parties, independent media and NGOs are active. We consider three scenarios. If things go well (an optimistic option), Georgia will carry out the necessary reforms and gain EU candidate status. Russia’s defeat in the war against Ukraine, which will demoralize the pro-Russian anti-democratic forces in Georgia, can prompt it. In a realistic scenario, the Georgian Dream remains in power after the 2024 elections, but through a series of compromises, this will not prevent Georgia from achieving EU candidate status. Polarization in society would diminish and Georgian politics would become more pluralistic. Finally, in the negative scenario, repression against the opposition in Georgia will intensify and relations with Europe will deteriorate significantly. This scenario can be stimulated if the Russian regime can save face in the result of aggressive war with Ukraine, since the inherently weak Georgian government needs some patronage from abroad.

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Georgia amid the Pivotal Changes – Scenario Mapping for the Future

Author(s): Bakur Kvashilava,Georgy Tsulaia,Koba Turmanidze,Korneli Kakachia,Levan Tsutskiridze,Nino Robakidze / Language(s): English

In Georgia, we need to achieve certain goals, we are rather unprepared and enfeebled in the face of this era of historical changes. Our politics is hollow and produces almost no interesting and valuable content. Much of our media, instead of providing discussion, analyses, facts and information, has transformed into instruments of propaganda. The public is tired of the never-ending bickering of politicians. The trust towards key state institutions is at an all-time low. That is what Putin aimed for when he started the war – to kill the hope of a better tomorrow, to sow distrust towards everything and everyone, to intimidate people and destroy their civic consciousness. The threat to Russian authoritarianism was the democratic optimism and diversity of public life in Ukraine and not the crackpot notion that NATO would attack Moscow from there. The current Russian governance model is based on cynicism, frustration, fear and the rule of power. We, in Georgia, are doing Putin’s work for his sake – through our inaction, indifference, gaffes and unwillingness to learn from these mistakes. The current situation makes it very difficult to deal with existing challenges. In addition, we need to utilize a new and unexpected opportunity. We had a chance to receive an EU member candidate status with Ukraine and Moldova, and we are wasting this chance and precious time. This publication is an attempt to fill this deficit. We started working on it soon after the war in Ukraine started, as it was becoming more evident that nobody was seriously discussing scenarios for the future development of events. This is why we decided to foster this discussion. We created the European Forum of Georgia – an informal platform for dialogue and coordination in Georgia, where people with different views will discuss solutions for the country's most critical issues.

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Overcoming the Crisis: Towards a 21st Century Election Administration. Vision and Principles for a Reform Package

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

This document proposes a package of fundamental and ambitious reforms of the election administration body, which, if implemented, would facilitate conflict resolution between the ruling and opposition parties and foster consensus on key issues related to election administration. It would also increase trust in electoral processes and eventually improve the quality of democracy in Georgia. This document is meant to inform those civic and political groups who are actively involved in creating legislative frameworks for several crucial issues related to democratic development. Considering the current political climate, urgent implementation of some radical reforms would be challenging. Hence, where possible, alternative options are also offered. Discussing the entire complex system of election administration in detail exceeds the scope of this document, which only aims to introduce a broad vision of reform related to the architecture of the election administration and foster a substantive discussion about the pillars of electoral reform.

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Intra-Party Democracy in the Georgian Political System

Author(s): Bakur Kvashilava / Language(s): English

Our main goal is to break through the vicious cycle and form a different political culture that is more amenable to democracy. One of the most tested ways is electoral reform, and we should greet 2024 more or less optimistically in this regard – a proportional electoral system with a relatively lower threshold will promote the inclusion of more parties and sig-nificantly increase the likelihood of forming a coalition government. While this is a promising prospect, considering the sharply negative attitude of the society towards political cohabita-tion in 2012-2013, as well as the political crisis that developed after the 2020 parliamentary elections, it has become obvious that not only compromise and consensus, but even any kind of civil relationship with opponents is often awkward and undesirable for the main actors of Georgian politics.

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გენდერული თანასწორობის შეფასება საქართველოს პოლიტიკურ პარტიებში

Author(s): Bakur Kvashilava,Kathia Gogilashvili,Zviad Barkaia / Language(s): English,Georgian

The political party system of Georgia keeps the characteristics of the predominant party type system following the system used by G. Sartori where “a predominant-party system is such to the extent, and as long as, its major party is consistently supported by a winning majority (the absolute majority of seats) of the voters.” That is for most of the existence of independent Georgia since 1995 a winning party consistently amassed more than 50% of the parliamentary seats. Other measures, such as Laakso and Taagepera’s Effective Number of Parties (ENP) index also show that since 2008 the number of relevant political parties in Georgia had been consistently under two. ENP measures the relative power of political parties according to the seats obtained in the highest legislature or votes received in the most recent national elections. These indicators clearly demonstrate that political power tends to be highly concentrated in Georgia and meaningful political pluralism is very limited. Georgian political system is also characterized by high turnover of political actors. Pedersen’s index of Political Instability consistently shows that any turnover in the government is accompanied by dramatic changes in the composition of the main legislative body, where newly created political organizations often receive overwhelming majority of seats and frequently, former incumbents altogether disappear from political arena. The party system of Georgia is very biased towards a winning party, usually the incumbent, the number of relevant political parties is very low and the system displays a high degree of volatility.

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Intra-party democracy and local governance

Author(s): Tamar Bagratia,Medea Badashvili,David Jijelava,Irakli Khmaladze / Language(s): English

The three issues that are covered in these papers are essentially the building blocks of modern democracy. Without the active involvement of young people, politics will be devoid of new, innovative ideas and dynamism. Similarly, without equal opportunities for both women and men, any political system will be leaving an important, vital group of stakeholders without a voice in politics, thus eroding its quality and people’s trust in it. Finally, local governments are the cornerstones of any democracy. Their effectiveness, as well as the quality of the services they render, determines what trust and support will be accorded to the general arrangement of the nation’s political system. The challenges that are discussed in the three papers are important and should not be neglected; the opportunities they present are ripe and will need to be further exploited. We therefore hope that this publication makes an interesting contribution to Georgia’s progress towards becoming a more balanced, highly participatory and genuine multiparty democracy serving its citizens justly and effectively.

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