The Democratic Republic of Georgia, 1918-1921

A Centennial of Liberal-Democratic Experiment in Eastmost Europe

Abstract

The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) offered an alternative scenario to the Russian revolutions of 1917. Whereas in Russia embryo democracy was crushed by the Bolshevik coup d’etat, in seceded Georgia western educated elites went back to their country of origin and commenced building of a liberal-democratic state. They were pioneers in promotion of “third way” policy, before this name ever was used: evolutionary social-democracy, universal suffrage with female representation in the parliament, social welfare state, decentralized governance was their political ticket. They cemented their political ideals in the short-lived constitution.

Georgian ruling elite initiated this project in overwhelmingly illiterate society, on the periphery of Russia, while being surrounded by the Russian Civil War and other regional upheavals.

Even though the DRG succeeded in establishing bilateral and multilateral ties with outer world, including such a remote country as Denmark was, and Georgia was granted an international de jure recognition, the experiment lasted only three years and was crushed by the Soviet Russian invasion in 1921.

The challenges and history of the DRG are quite contemporary and it generously provides lessons for the present, but the First Republic Georgia is forgotten by politicians and academics both in Georgia and in the political West, thus the lessons remain understudied.

Bio

Beka Kobakhidze received his PhD degree from Ivane Javakhishvili State University in Tblisli, Georgia, in 2015. He is an Associate Professor at Ilia State University and lecturer at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA).