Monday, August 18, 2025

Post-election talk with Georgia-analyst Lincoln Mitchell

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Lincoln Mitchell is Associate Professor at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute.

DF Watch talked with Georgia-analyst Lincoln Mitchell, Associate Professor at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute.

DFW: What has changed since July, when we last talked?

L.M: The euphoria of winning an election, of unseating Saakashvili, of getting rid of

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Ukraine and Georgia went different ways

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Lincoln Mitchell, Associate at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute.

Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has made Georgia more free, while President Viktor Yanukovich made Ukraine less free when he came to power in 2010. Although the West’s “golden kid” lost the election both places, and former officials have been prosecuted, what happened in the two countries is different,

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What now for Georgian politics?

Lincoln Mitchell, Associate at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute.

A new coalition called Georgian Dream won a clear victory in the parliamentary election last week. Georgia-expert Lincoln Mitchell interprets the result.

Did you expect these results?

I believe last time we spoke, and certainly last time I was here, I mentioned that the NDI

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Likely scenarios for the election aftermath

Lincoln Mitchell, Associate at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute.

TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia expert Lincoln Mitchell sees several possible outcomes of the election, and explained to us his assessment of the situation.

DFWatch: Your prognosis, your predictions about these elections, its outcomes are interesting.

Lincoln Mitchell: Well, we don’t know for sure

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Control over TV is preventing democracy in Georgia

Lincoln Mitchell, Associate at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute.

-The absence of a free media makes any kind of meaningful democracy impossible. Saakashvili’s givernment is using legalistic and legislative pyrotechnics to ensure an unfair political system, says Lincoln Mitchell, Associate at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute and Georgia-expert.

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Saakashvili is not indispensable to the United States

A free trade agreement with the United States is going to force Georgia to change its current very anti-worker labor laws, says Lincoln Mitchell, Associate at Columbia University's Harriman Institute.

What is most valuable to the U.S. in regards to Georgia is to have a leader who is supportive of the U.S., but also has democratic legitimacy. And there are plenty of politicians who could fulfill that precondition, according to Lincoln Mitchell, Associate at Columbia

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