AUTHOR=Stefes Christoph H. , Paturyan Yevgenya J. 

TITLE=After the Revolution: State, Civil Society, and Democratization in Armenia and Georgia

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Political Science

VOLUME=Volume 3 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/political-science/articles/10.3389/fpos.2021.719478

DOI=10.3389/fpos.2021.719478

ISSN=2673-3145

ABSTRACT=In 2003 and 2018, mass protests triggered the collapse of authoritarian regimes in Georgia and Armenia, respectively. In both cases, civil society organizations (CSOs) played an important role in laying the groundwork and organizing the protests. Following the toppling of semi-autocratic leaders, reform-oriented governments took over in both countries. Yet, the way civil society engaged the new rulers differed considerably. Whereas in Georgia, former civil society leaders were absorbed into the new government, Armenian civil society has kept its distance from the new political leadership. In this paper, we attempt to explain why state-society relations after the revolutions have developed in different directions in these two Soviet successor states. We argue that three conditions explain differences in engagement with the new governments: CSOs’ pre-revolutionary cooperation with the political opposition, Western governments’ support for civil society before and after the democratic transitions, and the degree to which CSOs are rooted in and represent the general public. As a consequence, Georgia's post-revolutionary regime lacked the checks and balances that CSOs usually provide, allowing it to sacrifice democratization on the altar of modernization. In Armenia, in contrast, CSOs have maintained a critical stance and continued to hold the government accountable.