ABSTRACT
The legacy of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) and the Russian invasion of 1921 played an important part in the establishment of Georgian independence in 1991. The constitution of the DRG, after the ouster of President Zviad Gamsakhurdia in 1992, was temporarily established as the supreme law of the land. The Communist Party, in both its Russian and Georgian variants, was an anti-system actor, outside the democratic framework from the very beginning. The Bolsheviks, Georgian independence was considered an anomaly by General Anton Denikin, commander of the Russian Volunteer Army and the main opponent of the Bolsheviks in the south of Russia during the civil war. Georgia's opposition parties contributed to a wide range of policy issues; they helped determine the budget, draft the constitution, and create foreign policy. The new post-revolutionary parliament of 2004-08 was dominated by Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM).
