0541393 - SOÚ 2021 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Aprasidze, D. - Siroky, David
Technocratic Populism in Hybrid Regimes: Georgia on My Mind and in My Pocket.
Politics and Governance. Roč. 8, č. 4 (2020), s. 580-589. ISSN 2183-2463. E-ISSN 2183-2463
Institutional support: RVO:68378025
Keywords : Georgia * hybrid regimes * Ivanishvili * populism
OECD category: Political science
Impact factor: 2.061, year: 2020
Method of publishing: Open access
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3370

Most studies of technocratic populism have focused on democracies under stress (e.g., Italy, Czech Republic). This article builds on and extends these studies by analyzing a hybrid regime-post-Soviet Georgia-and argues that technocratic populism in this context is utilized as a facade to cover authoritarian and oligarchic tendencies, while suspending (or reversing) democratization efforts. The state apparatus is weaponized against current and potential political opponents. Ideology is irrelevant, loyalty is key, and passivity is encouraged. The government aims to chip away at institutional checks and balances, and to demobilize the public by undermining confidence in the country's representative institutions while increasing dependence on experienced personalities, the 'can do experts.' The result is most often a stable partial-reform equilibrium. We illustrate this argument with evidence from Georgia, where Bidzina Ivanishvili, the richest man in the country, came to power in 2012 and, despite not holding any official position in the government since 2013, has run the state as a firm.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0318949