Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Georgia’s Constitution has been rewritten, amended, and reinterpreted many times, including major changes following the Rose Revolution that significantly strengthened the power of the presidency. Most recently, further changes to the Constitution were approved by Parliament on October 15, 2010. The 2010 amendments, which will come into effect in 2013 after the next Presidential election, constitute a major revision of the previous decision-making rules and significantly change state structures, such that the amended document is often referred to in the press and by the public as an entirely new constitution. In these amendments, the power of the President is decreased while the Prime Minister is empowered, bringing the structure of the Georgian government closer to that of a Western European parliamentary democracy. However, these changes open the door to criticism that the changes are intended to preserve President Saakashvili’s personal power after he leaves the Presidency by creating a strong Prime Ministerial position for him to fill. Moreover, the judiciary is given greater independence, the procedures of a no-confidence vote are changed, the requirements to hold government office are altered, and future Constitutional amendments will be procedurally more difficult.
The purpose of this thesis is to account for these changes of the Constitution. In doing so, the main framework employed focuses on the interests of the elites involved in the constitutional process. These elites include parliamentarians, presidential appointees, and Western and Georgian experts. Their roles will be examined through their participation in the Constitutional Commission and Council of Europe Venice Commission, as well as in academic discussions and other venues. The data on which the analysis rests include the Constitution itself, official statements of government officials, opposition figures, and NGOs, academic discussions of the amendments, and press clippings from the Georgian and Western media.