State-NGO Relations Under Georgian Dream: From Discursive Confliction to Institutional Deadlock

Abstract

Georgia's formal sphere of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), often broadly referred to as civil society, has faced numerous challenges concerning its disposition towards the subsequent governments since independence. Particularly under the incumbent Georgian Dream elite, state-NGO relations have gradually deteriorated since 2016 until they fully crumbled in 2023 with the inception of the "foreign agents" law. This article first traces the processes in the mentioned period (2016-2024) to recount the political background of NGO confrontation. Then, based on evidence, including original interview data, it identifies five modes of state pressure on NGOs: surveillance, discursive framing, forging divisions, physical attacks, and legislative restrictions. Lastly, it discusses the implications of the specified pressures, arguing that state-NGO relations in Georgia reached the point of what can be called "deadlock," both discursively and institutionally. Georgia's case represents a vivid example of the globally expanding assault on Western-funded non-profits, though its variation should be studied further regarding the episodes of democratic decay and civil society pushback.