It's Not All Roses Georgian Defence Reforms since the Rose Revolution
(2006)Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- As a consequence of the Rose Revolution in November 2003 a new, energetic government entered office in Post-Soviet Georgia. This thesis takes the case of recent Georgian defence reforms to analyse the problematic sides of reforming a weak state. The theoretical starting point is Kalevi J. Holsti's conclusion in State,War and the State of War: that legitimacy is the most decisive factor for why
reforms succeed in consolidating the state and its democracy in the long run. If there is a lack of vertical legitimacy (transparency and accountability) and horizontal legitimacy (socio-political cohesion) the state ends up in a state strength dilemma, where reforms carried out become counterproductive. The vertical dimension of legitimacy in... (More) - As a consequence of the Rose Revolution in November 2003 a new, energetic government entered office in Post-Soviet Georgia. This thesis takes the case of recent Georgian defence reforms to analyse the problematic sides of reforming a weak state. The theoretical starting point is Kalevi J. Holsti's conclusion in State,War and the State of War: that legitimacy is the most decisive factor for why
reforms succeed in consolidating the state and its democracy in the long run. If there is a lack of vertical legitimacy (transparency and accountability) and horizontal legitimacy (socio-political cohesion) the state ends up in a state strength dilemma, where reforms carried out become counterproductive. The vertical dimension of legitimacy in civil-military relations is analysed by
assessing the state's monopoly on violence ? is it a professional, directly and indirectly controlled monopoly on violence that is transparent and accountable to
the citizens? The horizontal dimension of legitimacy is understood as sociopolitical cohesion around the civil-military norms being developed; if all citizens are wilfully included and tolerated. It is concluded in the thesis that ongoing defence reforms lack legitimacy, and that Georgia therefore is facing a state strength dilemma. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1323368
- author
- Lohm, Hedvig
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2006
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Weak states, legitimacy, state strength dilemma, democratic revolutions, civil-military relations, Georgia, Social sciences, Samhällsvetenskaper
- language
- English
- id
- 1323368
- date added to LUP
- 2007-08-16 00:00:00
- date last changed
- 2007-08-29 00:00:00
@misc{1323368,
abstract = {{As a consequence of the Rose Revolution in November 2003 a new, energetic government entered office in Post-Soviet Georgia. This thesis takes the case of recent Georgian defence reforms to analyse the problematic sides of reforming a weak state. The theoretical starting point is Kalevi J. Holsti's conclusion in State,War and the State of War: that legitimacy is the most decisive factor for why
reforms succeed in consolidating the state and its democracy in the long run. If there is a lack of vertical legitimacy (transparency and accountability) and horizontal legitimacy (socio-political cohesion) the state ends up in a state strength dilemma, where reforms carried out become counterproductive. The vertical dimension of legitimacy in civil-military relations is analysed by
assessing the state's monopoly on violence ? is it a professional, directly and indirectly controlled monopoly on violence that is transparent and accountable to
the citizens? The horizontal dimension of legitimacy is understood as sociopolitical cohesion around the civil-military norms being developed; if all citizens are wilfully included and tolerated. It is concluded in the thesis that ongoing defence reforms lack legitimacy, and that Georgia therefore is facing a state strength dilemma.}},
author = {{Lohm, Hedvig}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{It's Not All Roses Georgian Defence Reforms since the Rose Revolution}},
year = {{2006}},
}