Thesis (Ed.D.)--Georgia Southern University, 2006. / "A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education" ETD. Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-108) and appendices.

<p><strong><em>Introduction</em></strong></p><p>Entrepreneurship and SME development play a crucial role in speeding up the economic development of transition economies. Although entrepreneurship exists in all environments it flourishes in the conditions where it is supported. Transition economies, as well as Georgia, are characterized by inefficient framework conditions that present barriers to productive entrepreneurship and SMEs to develop and benefit the economies in their full potential.</p><p> </p><p><strong><em>Purpose</em></strong></p><p>The Thesis aimed at answering the following research questions:</p><p> </p><p>1)      To what extent the framework conditions necessary for promoting productive entrepreneurship and SME development exist in Georgia?</p><p>2)      What are the perceived barriers to entrepreneurship and SME development in Georgia?</p><p>3)      In what ways is entrepreneurship and SME development encouraged and supported in Georgia?</p><p><strong><em>Method</em></strong></p><p>The thesis consists of theoretical data such as literature review, secondary data presented by previous studies, and primary data collected by conducting interviews with Georgian entrepreneurs and representatives of governmental bodies and NGOs engaged in improving a business climate in the country.</p><p> </p><p><strong><em>Conclusions</em></strong></p><p>The study revealed that basic framework conditions for developing entrepreneurship are present in Georgia. Although inefficiencies and institutional gaps give rise to a number of barriers to entrepreneurship and SME development. They are mostly presented by inefficient tax system and financial framework. Despite their efforts towards fostering favourable business environment, GoG, as well as NOGs could do a better job in improving an indirect support in terms of abolishing imperfections in the taxation system, as well as directly providing finance, training and effectual information flow to existing and potential businesses.</p>

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The Mask of Liberty: The Making of Freeholder Democracy in Revolutionary Georgia examines the structures and practices of government in Revolutionary Georgia from the 1750s to ratification of the federal constitution in 1788. Based on evidence compiled from land, probate, legislative, and executive records supplemented by loyalist claims, newspapers, manuscript, shipping, and grand jury records, this dissertation presents a view of the American Revolution in Georgia that reorients previous studies. This study argues that Georgia's American Revolution belonged to non-elite white male freeholders, fiercely committed to local control and autonomy. After Independence, they fashioned a political system that vested real power in small counties and starkly limited the reach of the state's executive and judicial branches. Georgians based their government on a mix of ideas current in Revolutionary America, the utility of which they measured against the state's distinctive history. This study relates that history to the political structures and practices that grew out of it. The American Revolution in Georgia was not a revolution of the dispossessed, of women, of slaves, or of property-less white men. It was fashioned by ambitious, self-interested men, most of whom migrated to Georgia in the decades immediately before or immediately after independence to take advantage of liberal land policies, a growing commercial environment and unusual opportunities to establish themselves, provide for families, and participate in self-government. Late eighteenth century Georgia was, at least for a time, the best freeholders' country, a land where white men could gain a freehold and enjoy a measure of political equality unknown to their fathers and grandfathers. That was the radicalism of Georgia's American Revolution, a radicalism born of the state's distinctive history of late settlement, destructive warfare, and engagement with great political debates of the age.

Tybee Island is a tiny piece of land, only-two-and-a-half miles long and two-thirds of a mile wide; however, its strategic location near the mouth of the Savannah River assigned to it an important role in the birth and history of the state of Georgia. Over this coastal community five flags have flown, representing Spain, France, England, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America. Using numerous vintage photographs from the archives of the Tybee Island Historical Society, Tybee Island guides the reader through over two hundred years of history. Although much of its history is linked to nearby Savannah, Tybee is singular among Georgia’s coastal islands, and has a history and lore that is uniquely its own. This visual journey begins with the building of Georgia’s oldest and tallest lighthouse, and continues through Tybee’s involvement in the Civil War. Also covered are the island’s later roles as a military installation, a popular coastal resort, and a residential community. Vintage photographs recall earlier days on Tybee, when the island was known as “Ocean City,” “Savannah Beach,” and, to some, “the best kept secret on the East Coast.” / https://dc.etsu.edu/alumni_books/1029/thumbnail.jpg