Democracy and Transformation: Georgia Style

So, what was I up to?

Well for someone who has only just arrived in Georgia, the past two days have been enormously informative. I went along to a two day forum entitled Europe's New Wave of Liberation: Democracy and Transformation. Along with President MikheiI Saakashvili, the forum featured quite an impressive list of regional leaders (Ukraine's Viktor Yushenko, Arnold Rüütel of Estonia and Romania's Traian Băsescu), senior Georgian ministers and MP's, representatives from the United States, the European Union and political analysts from numerous trans-Atlantic think tanks.

The panel sessions delved into institutional reform in transitional democracies; the success of the 'Rose Revolution' and the challenges a country like Georgia faces. For me, the most interesting session was: Why Democracy in the region matters: An Outside Perspective. This was moderated by the Chairman of the Georgian Parliament Nino Burjanadaze. (Her likeness to Dustin Hoffman's alter ego in Tootsie - see photo at above - which local journalists pointed out to me was a little distracting!). Ms Burjanadaze was keen to stress that Georgia is committed to democratic processes, independent courts, and supporting a strong independent media. She also added that Georgia should not be punished by being denied EU entry if other countries in the Caucasus are not yet ready.

Heikki Talvitie, Special Representative of the EU in the South Caucasus, navigated a very diplomatic path in his panel contribution saying that democracy is a tool for change and the EU aims 'to support existing mechanisms'. While Assistant Secretary-General of Nato, Jean Fornet, praised Georgia's military reforms and the army's work with KFOR and also in Afghanistan.

However, along with Charles Fairbanks of Johns Hopkins, the observations of Dov Lynch, Senior Research Fellow at the EU's Institute for Security Studies in Paris, were perhaps the most eloquent and insightful of this particular session. Lynch, an Irishmen, with a subtle trans-Atlantic accent, said that Georgia's 2003 'Rose Revolution' had disspelled three myths. Namely, that Georgia was a basket case of entrenched corruption and a collection of fiefdoms; that countries of the former the Soviet Union were a losing bet; and, that for Europe, The Caucasus was something distant and foreign - that it was not important to the immediate needs of Brussels and not of strategic interest. Lynch added that until recently The Black Sea has been forgotten by Europe as being a 'European Sea'. As for working towards gaining membership to the European Union, Lynch pointed out that the path to Brussels begins not in Brussels but in Tbilisi. Very much in the sense of God helps those who help themselves.

I interviewed Dov Lynch after the panel session and if you're interested you can download a little excerpt as an mp3 file from DivShare (Dov Lynch Interview 1.9 MB).