Political Economy and Social Movements: Georgia and the Rose Revolution

Anna Tsenteradze

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

In the theoretical part of the thesis political economy, different ideologies, civil society and social movements have been discussed. Economic factors play an important role in politics, in fact, Politics and economics have always been influenced by one another. In democratic states, civil participation has a crucial role. The practical part of the thesis is focused on the Rose Revolution which took place in 2003. The Soviet Union and command economy had a huge impact on Georgia. Relative Deprivation theory explains the motivations of different people int the development of a social movement. I have used the theory and tried to explain what were the reasons and motivational aspects of the protest. Furthermore, interviews have been conducted, the aim was to find out the pre-revolutionary environment, key factors of willingness to change the regime and the role of social movements for country's economic, political and social development. I have interviewed Koba Khabazi (a member of parliament who participated in the revolution), Giorgi Meladze (a member of the main social movement "Kmara"), Bakar Berekashvili (political analyst) and Marina Garishvili (associate professor, historian and jurisprudent), as well as 3 anonymous respondents.

Keywords

Political Economics, Social Movements, Rose Revolution, Political Ideologies, Civil Society, Social-movements in post-soviet countries, Revolutions, Democratization, Georgia

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 23. 3. 2020

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Daniel Rosenhaft Swain, Ph.D. MA

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Economics and Management

Bachelor programme / field:
Economics Policy and Administration / Business Administration