Journal of Constitutional Law (Dec 2021)
The Idea of Direct Democracy in the Constitution of the First Republic of Georgia
Abstract
One century has passed since the adoption of the Constitution of Georgia of 21 February 1921. Until now the 1921 Constitution remains as a document, which simply plays the role of the mythological foundation of legitimation, leading to the thwarting of its perception as a living document. Since the restoration of independence, every attempt of its analysis is marked by this factor. The undertaken analytical work is limited by the modern perspective and the theoretical framework of liberalism. The supreme law of the First Republic does not succumb easily to these methodological tools, which makes it impossible to study the importance and the basis of the document, as well as its relation to the epoch of that time thoroughly. The present article aims to eradicate this flaw. The debates held on the constitutional issues at that time, as well as the final documents, reveal clearly that the founders made the choice in favor of direct democracy. This model is based on the unity of citizens and the state (and is thus opposed to the liberal theory, which conceptualizes the two as antagonistic elements) and aspires to implement this model through the application of specific mechanisms. In this system, a voter plays an important role in everyday politics and its role is not circumscribed to voting in periodic elections, whereas the electoral and institutional systems themselves are organized in a way to maximally simplify it for the public to wield influence on political processes. The most interesting part is the fact that the Georgian Mensheviks did not simply choose a theoretical model and mechanically transplanted it in Georgia, but they adjusted it to the existing context, provided critical analysis, and developed it further. Thus, the present essay analyzes the Constitution of 21 February 1921 through the theoretical framework of direct democracy. And for this purpose, it will employ the methods of logical analysis, historical and comparative research, and will be based on the scholarship, historical sources, normative and archive materials. In this respect, the present article aims to make the long, polyphonic, and dynamic process of the drafting of the Constitution understandable for the reader; to show the context and the paths leading to specific decisions, some of which are simple, straightforward, and clear, and some are winding, untraveled and one might even say, dangerous.
