From or to the Center: Regionalism and Local Self-Governance “According to the present constitution, the Autonomous Rep. of Adjara has no rights at all, and the only thing we manage to do is to control the budget.” This is how A. Chitishvili started his speech
Electoral Challenges for Democratic Development of Georgia: A Test to Measure the Efficiency of the European Neighborhood Policy “How can we avoid the threats that we face in the next two weeks? How can we protect democracy in our country?”
Politics and Religion: the Tendency of Desecularization The discussion participants included Ms. Rusudan Gotsiridze, Bishop of the Evangelical-Baptist Church of Georgia; Mr. Nikoloz Laliashvili, MP, Christian-Democratic Party; Mr. Rati Amaglobeli, poet; and Mr. Giorgi Maisuradze, philosopher and representative of the Berlin Literature and Culture Research Centre.
Discrediting the idea: What Liberalism Means in Georgia The public discussion on liberalism and liberal values held at the Heinrich Boell Foundation on 30 May, 2012 focused on society’s attitudes towards these values and its readiness or reluctance to accept them. The speakers included Ms. Salome Asatiani, a Radio “Freedom” Correspondent, Ms. Shorena Shaverdashvili, Editor of “The Liberali”, and Mr. Gela Bandzeladze, representing the political party Social-Democrats for Development of Georgia.
Report of the Public Defender of Georgia on Human Rights and Freedoms – 2011 This discussion held in HBF’s office had fewer participants than other discussions. Both the moderator and speakers of the discussion presented their arguments regarding the public’s lack of interest towards human rights. “It seems that our society has a similar attitude towards human rights. Therefore, human rights are protected to the extent to which people pay attention to these issues according to the attitudes towards them. Or maybe public skepticism is so high that nobody believes that human rights will ever be protected here,” said Gogi Gvakharia to open this discussion.
The Role of a Citizen in Politics – What Does Civil Activism Mean? “The stereotype that we shifted the attention only to NGOs should be destroyed… In our society it is almost considered that civil activism relates solely to a type of organizational or non-governmental sector.” This view expressed at the discussion precisely reflects the problem or puzzle that the Georgian civil society sector currently faces.
Student Self-Governments – Challenges, Perspectives What is a function of student’s self-governance, how student self-government bodies are elected, what is a duration of the elected self-government bodies, how the functions of the student self-governments differ from each other at various Georgian universities, what is a rate of trust in this institution, what are major problems students in Georgia face and how the student self-government bodies support students in solving these problems, what was the reason for establishing an alternative student movement – these were some of the issues discussed during the debate held at the HBF on 14 December 2011.
Administration of Justice and Protection of Human Rights in the Justice System in Georgia A public debate at the Heinrich Boell Foundation South Caucasus Regional Office held on 16 November 2011 was devoted to the issue of Administration of justice and protection of human rights in the justice system in Georgia.
Registration of Religious Organizations as Legal Entities of Public Law The reaction of the Georgian public to the adoption of "The Rule of Registration of Religious Organizations as Legal Entities of Public Law”, endorsed in July 2011 by the Georgian Parliament, was not homogenous.
Results of the school certification examinations in Poti On 19 July, 2011, a public discussion in Poti, organized by the Heinrich Boell Foundation, was devoted to the issue of results of the certification examinations.