The Georgian Regime Crisis of 2003-2004

The Georgian Regime Crisis of 2003-2004
Author: Rebecca S Katz
Publisher: ibidem-Verlag / ibidem Press
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2006-04-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3838254139

The Republic of Georgia remains characterized by an unstable socio-political economy and by gross levels of economic inequality, corruption, ineffective policing, a weak judiciary, and a limited free and independent press. Currently, sixty-five percent of the population continue to live under the poverty level thus facilitating participation in crime and corruption to survive economically. Following initial independence from the Soviet Union separatist and nationalistic movements, resulting in the secession of several regions and the creation of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Georgians. Georgia’s post-soviet history included violent political purges, including inter-political party violence, bomb attacks, and murders. Official corruption remains problematic and includes individuals at all levels of government. This exploratory narrative analysis of media coverage of crime, corruption, and politics in post-Soviet Georgia illuminates the early development of a free press while reflecting Georgian attitudes about politics and corruption. The analysis includes preelection newspaper coverage of the November 2003 parliamentary poll beginning in late August 2003, the Rose Revolution in November 2003, resulting in the resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze, and the socio-economic and socio-political events preceding and following the election of new President Mikhail Saakashvili from January 2004 through the end of March 2004.

The 2002 Dubrovka and 2004 Beslan Hostage Crises

The 2002 Dubrovka and 2004 Beslan Hostage Crises
Author: John Dunlop
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2006-01-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 389821608X

This volume contains by far the most complete reports available in English concerning two major terrorist incidents in Russia: the October 2002 seizure of a Moscow theater at Dubrovka and the September 2004 taking of a large school in Beslan in southern Russia. The issues examined are as follows:- the backgrounds of the Muslim extremists who carried out these acts including the de facto leaders of the terrorist assaults, ethnic Chechen Ruslan Elmurzaev and Ingush Ruslan Khuchbarov;- the failure of Russian law-enforcement to prevent these two incidents, documenting both the massive corruption of the Russian security services and police and the absence of the rule of law;- the storming of the Moscow theater building and of the school at Beslan by Russian police, aided by the military, elucidating the reasons for the very large loss of life in both incidents;- the use by the Russian police of a special gas at Dubrovka and of tanks and flamethrowers at Beslan;- the evident fixation of the Putin leadership with portraying these two assaults as incidents of international Islamic terrorism linked to the Al-Qaeda network;- and the repeated attempts on the part of the Russian authorities at the time of these incidents to weaken the influence of moderate Chechen separatists headed by the late Aslan Maskhadov.

Georgia: Revolution and War

Georgia: Revolution and War
Author: Rick Fawn
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2016-03-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134930186

The post-Soviet country of Georgia has generated surprise upon surprise. Its Rose Revolution in 2003 marked the first time an existing leadership of a post-Soviet state was forced to surrender power peacefully. The new leadership of Western-educated Mikheil Saakashvili initiated wide-ranging domestic reforms, including a large-scale, unprecedented anti-corruption drive. It also intensified relations with the West and sought membership of the EU and NATO. The Georgian leadership’s expressed aim of re-integrating territories lost in wars in the early 1990s resulted in a devastating conflict with Russia in 2008. All these developments, and their wider implications, receive careful yet readable attention in this collection by a truly international and specialist group of authors and practitioners. The book offers a spectrum of opinion and compelling insight into the events and decisions that have recently shaped this fascinating yet understudied country, and placed it at the forefront of interest in the changes transforming post-Soviet Eurasia. This book is based on a special issue of European Security.

How Corruption and Anti-Corruption Policies Sustain Hybrid Regimes

How Corruption and Anti-Corruption Policies Sustain Hybrid Regimes
Author: Oksana Huss
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2020-10-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3838214307

Leaders of hybrid regimes in pursuit of political domination and material gain instrumentalize both hidden forms of corruption and public anti-corruption policies. Corruption is pursued for different purposes including cooperation with strategic partners and exclusion of opponents. Presidents use anti-corruption policies to legitimize and institutionalize political domination. Corrupt practices and anti-corruption policies become two sides of the same coin and are exercised to maintain an uneven political playing field. This study combines empirical analysis and social constructivism for an investigation into the presidencies of Leonid Kuchma (1994–2005), Viktor Yushchenko (2005–2010), and Viktor Yanukovych (2010–2014). Explorative expert interviews, press surveys, content analysis of presidential speeches, as well as critical assessment of anti-corruption legislation are used for comparison and process tracing of the utilization of corruption under three Ukrainian presidents.

Fighting Corruption in Public Services

Fighting Corruption in Public Services
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 127
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0821394762

This book chronicles the anti-corruption reforms in public services in Georgia since the Rose Revolution in late 2003. Through a series of case studies, the book draws out the how of these reforms and distills the key success factors.

The Corruption Cure

The Corruption Cure
Author: Robert I. Rotberg
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2019-08-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0691191573

Corruption corrodes all facets of the world's political and corporate life, yet until now there was no one book that explained how best to battle it. Here, Rotberg puts some 35 countries under an anti-corruption microscope to show exactly how to beat back the forces of sleaze and graft.

Borotbism: A Chapter in the History of the Ukrainian Revolution

Borotbism: A Chapter in the History of the Ukrainian Revolution
Author: Ivan Maistrenko
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2018-10-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3838211073

Much has been written on the 1917–1920 revolution in Ukraine, on the national movement, the Makhnovists and the Bolsheviks. Yet there were others with a mass following whose role has faded from history books. One such party was the Borotbisty, the heirs of the mass Ukrainian Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries, an independent party seeking to achieve national liberation and social emancipation. Though widely known in revolutionary Europe in their day, the Borotbisty were decimated during the Stalinist holocaust in Ukraine. Out of print for over half a century, this lost text by Ivan Maistrenko, the last survivor of the Borotbisty, provides a unique account on this party and its historical role. Part memoir and part history, this is a thought-provoking book which challenges previous approaches to the revolution and shows how events in Ukraine decided the fate not only of the Russian Revolution but the upheavals in Europe at the time.

Organized Crime and Corruption in Georgia

Organized Crime and Corruption in Georgia
Author: Louise Shelley
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2007-09-12
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134206895

Georgia is one of the most corrupt and crime-ridden nations of the former Soviet Union. In the Soviet period, Georgians played a major role in organized crime groups and the shadow economy operating throughout the Soviet Union, and in the post-Soviet period, Georgia continues to be important source of international crime and corruption. Important changes have been made since the Rose Revolution in Georgia to address the organized crime and pervasive corruption. This book, based on extensive original research, surveys the most enduring aspects of organized crime and corruption in Georgia and the most important reforms since the Rose Revolution. Endemic crime and corruption had a devastating effect on government and everyday life in Georgia, spurring widespread popular discontent that culminated with the Rose Revolution in 2003. Some of the hopes of the Rose Revolution have been realized, though major challenges lie ahead as Georgia confronts deep-seated crime and corruption issues that will remain central to political, economic, and social life in the years to come.

Civil War? Interstate War? Hybrid War?

Civil War? Interstate War? Hybrid War?
Author: Jakob Hauter
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2021-04-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3838213831

This volume of collected papers takes stock of what has become known about the war in eastern Ukraine’s Donets Basin (Donbas) between April 2014 and mid-2020. It provides an introduction to the conflict and illustrates the key point of contention in the academic debate surrounding it—the question whether this war is primarily an internal Ukrainian phenomenon or the result of a covert Russian invasion. The contributions by recognized specialists from Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and Japan offer multifaceted views and insights into this long-lasting conflict for both expert readers and those who are new to the topic. The volume’s contributors are Tymofii Brik, Jakob Hauter, Sanshiro Hosaka, Yuriy Matsiyevsky, Nikolay Mitrokhin, Maximilian Kranich, and Ulrich Schneckener.