Georgia

Georgia has registered one of the most spectacular transitions to good governance in the second part of its post-communist transition, but its vicinity to Russia and its excessively contentious politics have prevented a complete accomplishment and even led to a recent backslide on online services. A textbook example of successful reforms under the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili, with the reduction of administrative corruption opportunities and the introduction of merit-based reforms in the public sector, the country stopped short of judicial autonomy, broad press freedom and efficient oversight systems of government favoritism. The country has improved on digitally empowered citizens who demand good governance. While Georgia remains a nominal candidate for EU membership, the European influence has been so far insufficient to prevent the undue use of the judiciary for settling political scores, often in the pretext of corruption. Georgian officials have been sanctioned by the EU with loss of their EU visa free status in 2026 for their rule of law breach.