2008 Assessment

This peer-reviewed country report includes:

Integrity Indicators Scorecard: Scores, scoring criteria, commentary, references, and peer review perspectives for more than 300 Integrity Indicators.

Reporter's Notebook: An on-the-ground look at corruption and integrity from a leading local journalist.

Corruption Timeline: Ten years of political context to today's corruption and integrity issues.

Country Facts: Statistical context for each country.

The conflict between Georgia and Russia in the summer of 2008 over the separatist region of South Ossetia highlighted several key weaknesses in Georgia's system of governance. Government accountability is very weak, with poor accountability mechanisms and processes to keep executive and judicial power in check. As our lead researcher observes, the chief executive rarely gives reasons for his policy decisions because "there is no formal necessity for explanation and due to the lack of freedom of media in Georgia it is rather difficult to get any information other than government-produced propaganda." Georgia also suffers from deep problems with administration and civil service. For instance, there are no regulations governing conflicts of interest for government officials involved in privatization.