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ON THE SPECIAL FEATURES OF GEORGIA’S INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC FUNCTIONVladimir PAPAVA
Vladimir Papava, D.Sc. (Econ.), professor, Corresponding Member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences
As of the present, Georgia has still not fully conceived its economic policy and essentially has no strategic vision of its development. The occasional debates about which area it should focus on—agrarian or industrial, or which function in general each of its branches should carry out—can hardly be considered constructive. After all, every state at each historical stage of its existence has to resolve a set of problems regarding its economic development, the most important being the choice of a reliable strategy of progress, on the basis of which practical measures are also determined. This problem is particularly urgent for Georgia today, the leadership of which, since the latest restoration of the state’s independence (the beginning of the 1990s), has mainly been engaged in resolving what are of course important tactical tasks, but are in no way related to the development of strategy. So it goes without saying that our republic’s place and role, as well as its function in the world economy, must be comprehended at the proper level.
The Danger of RevengeWith respect to general acceptance of the idea of state independence, the period beginning after 9 April, 1989, when Moscow conducted a punitive campaign against the peaceful residents of Tbilisi, can be considered a revolutionary turning point in the mindset of the country’s population. It goes without saying that this also had an impact on the economic mindset. At that time, a number of noteworthy romantic conceptions appeared regarding the republic’s economic independence. In some of them, the solutions to several problems were expressed rather vaguely.
Despite these objective shortcomings, on the basis of the conceptions mentioned, the strategic contours of Georgia’s economy took shape: its independence (which is identified with independence from Russia) based on a market system (although even the outlines of this system were not defined). At that time, this seemed entirely sufficient to begin political reforms, reject the communist-oriented economy, and approve the institution of private property.
But after the peaceful (on the basis of elections) overturn of the communist regime, the romantic idea of state independence assumed a very extremist form: the striving to achieve independence from Russia as quickly as possible became extremely urgent, and transformation of the economy was postponed for the indefinite future.
Any extremism is destructive. And, naturally, any fight for independence taken to the extreme (the most graphic example of this is 1991 when Georgia closed its railroad in order to set up a supposedly economic blockade against Russia) cannot yield good results: the administrative management system was……………..
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