Azerbaijan's transition to democracy and Western alignment after Soviet rule

¶ … demise of the Soviet Union resulted in the emergence of 15 independent republics that, in turn, entered a soul-searching period to survive and prosper. At stake were the identities of nation-states whose political and cultural legacies were buried by 70 years of communist rule. Some states like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fared better than Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. States like Ukraine and Belarus suffered both politically and economically. Tajikistan was mired in civil war that preoccupied its supranational leadership. The smallest three republics in the Caucasus; Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, fared far worse, in part because severe dormant ethnic tensions were revived. Moreover, civil wars in Georgia especially areas like Abkhazia and Ossetia, as well as a territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabagh enclave, meant war. The two countries Azerbaijan and Georgia later also moved on the path to democracies.

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is bounded by Iran on the south, where the Aras (Araks) River divides it from Iranian Azerbaijan; by the Caspian Sea on the east; by Russia's Dagestan Republic on the north; and by Armenia on the west. Azerbaijan occupies the western ranges of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus and the Kura River valley.

Politics & Democracy

The country has seen problems because of rulers like Gaidar Aliev who ruled with impunity. The country has suffered because of rules of previous tyrant governments. However, Azerbaijan has survived the test of times.

Azerbaijan is a nation of eight million that has raised itself from the ashes of Soviet totalitarianism into a vibrant and pro-Western democracy. Azerbaijan's transition from a satellite state of the Soviet Union a mere 15 years ago to a democracy allied with the West took another major step forward on November 6, 2005, when the people of Azerbaijan went to the polls to elect their representatives to parliament.

Azerbaijan is different from other Muslim states because of its firm dedication to secularism that has even enabled it to maintain diplomatic relations with Israel. The culture of the country is such that religious minorities in Azerbaijan are able to practice their faith. Azerbaijan has not allowed its Muslim heritage to be hijacked by clerics.

Azerbaijan has also remained a steadfast ally of the United States. This strategic partnership strengthened after the tragic events of September 11. Today, Azerbaijan stands side-by-side with America in the global war on terrorism. As a result a close relationship between the two countries has evolved. United States now supports the democratization process in the country and foresees a strong bond on this basis between the two.

Georgia

Situated on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus and in the Lesser Caucasus, Georgia is largely ruggedly mountainous. Nestled strategically between the Black Sea to the west, Russia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, and Armenia and Turkey to the south, Georgia remains a blend of Western and Eastern cultures and languages. Years of conflict, neglect and abuse has left this fertile and friendly nation lacking the infrastructure required to sustain democracy, regardless of how badly the citizens seek a Western style of freedom.

Politics & Democracy

The problems of politics in Georgia were similar to Azerbaijan. This country also faced issues of corruption and faulty leadership. Georgia was ruled by Shevardnadze who was largely considered corrupt. There were complaints, that he allowed a handful of close relatives and cronies to profit from the privatization of state assets. It is alleged that Georgian officials and their business partners pillaged billions during his tenure.

People developed a certain dislike to the regime but move to show their dissent in a non-violent manner. In Georgia in 2003, the youth group Kmara invited veterans of the Serbian group Otpor to come to Tbilisi and provide advanced training in nonviolent action. From that flowed better planning and better execution in Kmara's sequence of graffiti, leaflet, and poster campaigns against corruption and for media freedom.. In Belgrade as well as in Tbilisi, massive protests demonstrated the lack of political legitimacy of old regimes and caused their disintegration. The Georgian revolution may be considered a model to dissolve dictatorships in other parts of the former Soviet empire, where the surge of freedom, started in 1989 with the collapse of the Berlin Wall

States that are democratic but only partly free are often those in transition from a repressive regime to more open forms of government. Georgia, which held free and fair elections in 2004 elected Mr. Saakashvili who received more than 80% of the vote in elections that were the most peaceful and transparent since Georgian independence. The Columbia University-educated Mr. Saakashvili became president, promising to lead his country away from centuries of domination by Russia. Since taking power, Mr. Saakashvili has sought to sweep out corruption left over from the Shevardnadze era and move Georgia toward the West.

The people of Georgia have demonstrated to the world that freedom and democracy are important to them by electing in the 2004 the 36-year-old president, Mikheil Saakashvili. To support the emerging democracy, the United States has provided millions of dollars in military aid in return for the few hundred troops that Georgia has supplied to the war in Iraq. More broadly, the U.S. Department of Justice has provided funds and staff to the new government to implement the rule of law through transformation of the historically corrupt court system.

Economy

As soon as the subsidies from the U.S.S.R. central budget were terminated, the collapse of the social security system, massive unemployment and hyperinflation followed and were further aggravated by total corruption and ethno-territorial conflicts. One of the effects has been the social polarization in this heretofore 90 per cent middle-class society, with growing numbers becoming poor and a few becoming rich. The middle class has ultimately disappeared and, as a result, the society lost its political stability and economic growth.

In the first post-independence years the inequality in incomes was not so striking. However, later the inequality became more and more conspicuous following privatization, government extortion and illicit profits made by a thin layer of nouveau riche against the background of a catastrophic reduction of incomes for the great majority. The salaried state sector professionals, with monthly wages were equally hard-hit, and they have resorted to taking bribes to survive.

For more than a decade, the country has been de-industrializing and learning to live with firewood or diesel generators brought in from Turkey. Reforms in Georgia, with its entrenched corruption, lack of competitive industries, poor work ethic, worn-out Soviet-era infrastructure, and widespread poverty, has been considered difficult, especially in the face of a deep economic crisis and security threats, including ones from Russia.

Agriculture is a leading occupation in Georgia, whose warmer districts produce large quantities of tea and citrus fruits; tobacco, wine grapes, rice, and mulberry trees (for silk) are also grown. Sheep, pigs, and poultry are raised. Georgia is rich in minerals also. Georgia had a large and varied industrial sector. Its chief manufactures included transport equipment, electric motors, machine tools, iron and steel, railroad and mining equipment, chemicals, textiles, wine, and building materials, but many industries collapsed after independence.

Challenges: For Georgian economy to progress there are myriad internal and external challenges. Russia has been accusing Georgia of sheltering terrorists from the rebellious region of Chechnya, a charge Georgia has denied. Georgia has complained of Russian support for separatist elements in the border area of Abkhazia, over which the central government in Tbilisi has little control. Georgians want Russia to withdraw two Soviet-era military bases it maintains on their territory and to end support for two separatist regions

Although Georgia has abundant hydroelectric energy, it must import the bulk of its fuel due to previous faulty privatization policies and other circumstances. "Moscow also controls the vital electric and natural gas grids, acquired by state-controlled Russian companies RAO UES and Gazprom in 2003. Similar to the relationship between the U.S. And Central American economies, close to 1 million Georgians are repatriating their earnings to their homeland to the tune of up to one-fourth of Georgian GDP. Russia also uses the visa-free travel scheme from Georgia to encourage Abkhaz and Adjaran separatism" ('Our Challenge in Georgia' A17).

The new regime is struggling to attract honest, competent and educated people to the government, deliver pensions, salaries and other social safety payments on time and restarting economic growth and foreign investment amid deep economic crisis. The government is also encouraging economic reform, institution building, and anti-corruption measures through ongoing privatization and deregulation

The State Department should foster anew economic relationship with the Georgian government. Washington should expand cooperation with Georgia on providing security for Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil and gas Main Export Pipeline.

Comparison

Elections in transitional countries are often scheduled by the authoritarian ruler and rigged to ensure reelection of the ruling party. These types of elections raise a different set of challenges. Democrats facing the prospect of a stolen election turn to the United States and Europe for help in somehow making the election fair as is the case with Georgia & Azerbaijan. Washington particularly ensured stability in the Caucasus as essential to its longtime projects of pipelines stretching from the Caspian to the Mediterranean through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The project was specially became important for the economic progress of the country."The gas coming ashore from the Shah Deniz field will be processed at the Sangachal terminal before being piped along the new Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum 686km pipeline to Turkey with off-takes in both Azerbaijan and Georgia. Georgia and Turkey stand to earn substantial revenues through transit fees and royalties. Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev says he expects the major oil and gas fields and pipelines to provide revenues of more than $150bn to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey by 2024. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has forecast that Azerbaijan's oil revenues alone will swell government coffers by $50bn" (Williams 44).

Democracy in both countries has come to the two countries with the help of western powers but credit should also go to the people of the countries. Especially the way people have come forward in Georgia can be an inspiration for other countries to follow. The interesting point to note in cases of both the countries is that both Moscow and Washington seemed to be in unison with regard to political changes in the Caucasus. States like Georgia and Ukraine became examples for countries like Azerbaijan which later also moved on the path of democracy. People of both countries suffered after disintegration but did not completely bog down and eventually started raising their voices.

Azerbaijan is faring better than Georgia in economic terms. This may be because no former Soviet republic saw as great an economic calamity as Georgia. The economy now is still under the pressure pf past mistakes in the two countries but things have started looking up slowly but surely. Azerbaijan on the hand is relying heavily on its energy resources. However, long-term prospects for Azerbaijan will depend on world oil prices, the location of new pipelines in the region, and Azerbaijan's capability to manage its oil wealth. "Georgia is one of the rare states where social spending is dependent on international assistance. With the massive international financial aid, Georgia can only provide its 5-million populations an average monthly income of less than $25, compared to $73 in Azerbaijan. Pensions and salaries are paid sporadically, retirees and refugees are struggling to survive on their $9 monthly allowances, and the country is regularly plunged into cold and darkness by seasonal energy shortages" (Rasizade 139). Despite similarities and differences, the two countries are now moving in the positive direction.