The Eastern Neighborhood Bulletin – a regional analytical platform covering political, security, and governance developments across Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus – has published a comprehensive expert review titled “Why Didn’t Georgian Dream Fall?”
The article brings together insights from nine leading specialists from Georgia, Europe, and the United States. Among them is Tinatin Khidasheli, Chairperson of Civic IDEA and former Minister of Defense of Georgia, who offers her analysis on the political developments surrounding the 2024 parliamentary elections and the protest movement that followed.
In her contribution, Tinatin Khidasheli highlights the critical failures of political leadership, noting that while civil society demonstrated remarkable energy and creativity, opposition parties did not transform public demand for change into a unified and credible political strategy:
“The 2024 parliamentary elections were seen as the last shred of hope by everyone, apparently except the main players: the opposition political parties. Georgian political opposition was expected to deliver bold, surprising moves that would catch the ruling party off guard and divert it from its well-structured traps. When the central issue at stake is the country’s sovereignty and reorientation of the entire statecraft, this is no longer a matter for activism alone. Resistance to such a shift must necessarily be political; it must be led, organized, and sustained by actors with the legitimacy and capacity to claim power, that is, political parties.
A simple plan of three phases of unavoidable change should have been set in motion: for people, regardless of partisan preference, to demand the change, then to believe it was possible, and finally to identify those capable of winning and governing after victory. Activists and civil society fulfilled their role. The movement proved creative and energetic, thus, the demand for change was overwhelming. Yet political leadership failed to transform that demand into a credible strategy of power.”
– Tinatin Khidasheli, Head of Tbilisi-based think tank Civic Idea, former Minister of Defense of Georgia, 2015-2016.
You can read the full article here:
