Georgia as a Case Study: From Democracy to Authoritarian Rule

Georgia as a Case Study: From Democracy to Authoritarian Rule

On Georgia's Independence Day, this event brings together experts, activists, and artists to examine Georgia's democratic backsliding — not as a distant cautionary tale, but as a living blueprint for recognising and resisting authoritarian capture before it becomes irreversible.

Part I — Expert Panel: The Anatomy of Backsliding

Representatives and experts from Georgia — lawyers, political scientists, economists, sociologists, and civil society practitioners — will offer interconnected analyses of how Georgia's democratic institutions have been eroded from within. The discussion draws on lived professional experience and academic research to map the legal, political, economic, and social mechanisms at work, and to ask: what are the early warning signs, and how can they be identified before democratic reversal becomes entrenched? Georgia's trajectory is not unique — it echoes patterns visible across Europe and beyond. This session aims to build a transferable framework for early detection and resistance.

Part II — Art, Resistance, Memory

A photo exhibition and video programme document the protests, the faces of resistance, political prisoners, and the music that has carried the movement. Georgian and Berlin-based artists bear witness to what is at stake when a society refuses to give in.
This event is organised by the Georgian-German Women's Alliance in collaboration with Berlin-based Georgian civil society organisations. The main organiser is the Georgian-German Women's Alliance, a Berlin-based NGO focused on democracy strengthening, human rights, and equality. The event is co-organised with Berlin-based Georgian civil society organisations and individuals from across disciplines.

Sopiko Shaburishvili is a Georgian human rights lawyer and civil society activist with over a decade of courtroom and advocacy experience across Georgia and Europe. A co-founder of the Georgian-German Women's Alliance, she brings direct professional insight into the legal and political mechanisms of democratic erosion — insight shaped by years of strategic litigation, human rights campaigning, and on-the-ground observation of Georgia's shifting institutional landscape. She is currently completing a PhD in international criminal law at the University of Potsdam, where her research examines the role of civil society in the enforcement of international criminal justice. She is based in Berlin.

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