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{
  "authors": [
    "Thomas de Waal"
  ],
  "type": "testimony",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
    "Carnegie Europe"
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  "englishNewsletterAll": "ctw",
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  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Europe",
  "programAffiliation": "russia",
  "programs": [
    "Russia and Eurasia"
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  "regions": [
    "Caucasus",
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  "topics": [
    "Political Reform"
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Source: Getty

Testimony
Carnegie Europe

The State of Democracy in the South Caucasus

After twenty years of independence, the countries of the South Caucasus have yet to become truly democratic and pluralistic societies.

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By Thomas de Waal
Published on May 23, 2012
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Russia and Eurasia

The Russia and Eurasia Program continues Carnegie’s long tradition of independent research on major political, societal, and security trends in and U.S. policy toward a region that has been upended by Russia’s war against Ukraine.  Leaders regularly turn to our work for clear-eyed, relevant analyses on the region to inform their policy decisions.

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Source: U.S. Helsinki Commission

In a briefing at the U.S. Helsinki Commission, Carnegie’s Thomas de Waal commented on the upcoming elections and the state of democracy in the South Caucasus. The governments of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, he argued, resemble the Russian model of “a one-party state with managed democracy.” He added that “Azerbaijan is the most authoritarian and Georgia the most democratic, with Armenia somewhere in between.”  De Waal described elections as an important “health-check on the state of democracy in these countries” but also pointed to bigger problems in each country’s political culture.

Instead of focusing exclusively on elections, he suggested that “widening the whole political space” would help create more pluralistic societies.  Given the “big gap between what happens in the capital and in the rest of the country,” different strategies for capital cities and provinces are necessary.  Independent media remains underdeveloped and stifled, while state “media and in particular television, which is the overwhelmingly dominant medium of news coverage, shape the political narrative in favor of the governing administration,” de Waal concluded.  
 

This briefing took place at the U.S. Helsinki Commission.  

About the Author

Thomas de Waal

Senior Fellow, Carnegie Europe

De Waal is a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe, specializing in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.

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Thomas de Waal
Senior Fellow, Carnegie Europe
Thomas de Waal
Political ReformCaucasusAzerbaijanArmeniaGeorgia

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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