Georgiens väg mot demokrati - En processpårande studie om internationella påtryckningar i demokratiseringen av Georgien

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study is to identify which types of international pressures can be found in Georgia’s democratization process and to understand how international pressures and external factors promote democratization of Georgia, using a theory-testing process tracing method. An analytical framework consisting of four types international pressures; contagion, control, consent, and conditionality is used as a tool to find the external factors. The framework is based on Laurence Whiteheads theory on the first three international dimensions of democratization, with an addition from Philippe C Schmitter on a fourth type of pressure - conditionality. The analysis is divided into three periods of time, from the year of 1989-1999, 2000-2008, and lastly 2009-2017. The periods are then compared to each other to examine what kind of different types of international pressures can be identified in each time period. The results show that the occurrence of the four types of international pressures differs in the three time periods depending on the context in which the events take place. The effect of these pressures has partly lead to democracy promotion and positive democratic development. However, the results show that the international dimension cannot explain the democratization of Georgia alone - it must be analyzed in combination with internal factors of the country.