ABSTRACT

Public discourse relating to what sort of state Georgia should be has, since independence, taken several often contradictory directions. By the end of 2000 there were estimated to be nearly four thousand nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Georgia registered on the basis of the November 1997 Civil Code. One factor behind the relative strength of the NGO sector in Georgia in comparison with other former Soviet republics was a favourable legislative framework. Like the Liberty Institute, Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) also focused on improving Georgian legislation – in fact this was the organization's main field of activity. The legislative framework in Georgia was favourable to the development of a relatively independent media. In Georgia, centralization of power in the hands of presidential appointees meant that networks of former communist functionaries, typically old acquaintances from Komsomol, came to dominate local government structures.