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Security Sector Change in Georgia, 1985 - 2008 Local Dynamics, Politics of Reform and Paramilitaries

The literature on security sector actors in transitional societies emerging from war
and/or authoritarianism has evolved by critiquing local perspectives recently.
While the existing literature has extensively analysed transitional societies in
Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe, the thesis adds a new geographical
perspective by providing a case study of security sector change processes in the
Republic of Georgia, 1985 - 2008. More specifically, the thesis examines the local
processes and drivers of security sector change in Georgia, and their interrelationships
with donor supported programmes including SSR. The thesis
employs a political economy analysis to examine indigenous security sector
actors and their characteristics. Based on the approach, the thesis particularly
examines processes of change and reform of policing institutions. The
paramilitary is identified and examined as a key focus for analysis.
The research shows that political dynamics among a few political elites
determined the course of security sector change in Georgia. Despite ample
external assistance, domestic political dynamics remained the main driving factor
in the SSR agenda-setting process. In the politically-driven security sector
change efforts, the restoration and maintenance of regime security remained a
priority under both the Shevardnadze and Saakashvili regimes. Overall, the
security sector actors played significant role in the political developments.
Consequently, the process of changing these actors was a largely domestically
driven political process. The role of paramilitaries in relation to regime security
and the security sector change agenda-setting process in Georgia requires the
security sector research to treat paramilitary as a distinguished unit for
consideration. / Akino Yutaka Eurasia Fund and the United Nations University Akino Memorial Research Fellowship.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/17312
Date January 2018
CreatorsKoyama, Shukuko
ContributorsGreene, Owen J.
PublisherUniversity of Bradford, University of Bradford, Department of Peace Studies
Source SetsBradford Scholars
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis, doctoral, PhD
Rights<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>.

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