The Georgian Dream movement came to power over a decade ago. It initially claimed to want to uphold the European integration policies of its predecessor, but has slowly moved towards a more sovereign discourse. Over time, Georgian Dream has increasingly fueled affective political polarization, and now accuses its pro-European critics of wanting to drag Georgia into a war with Russia. It has furthermore vehemently defended adopting controversial anti-democratic legislation such as the so called ‘foreign agents’ law.

With 70-80% of Georgians supporting Euro-Atlantic integration, the ruling party avoids openly rejecting this path. Instead, it promises domestic audiences EU membership under the slogan “Toward Europe with Dignity.”

See blog by Lia Tsuladze at The Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia’s website