After the break-up of the USSR, the former Soviet countries took different paths. While many of them face severe economic problems or have become only questionably democratic, Georgia¿s socio-political development has become a relatively successful post-Soviet transition story. A deeper understanding of Georgia can offer insights that are also useful for other transitional and developing states. Many of the good governance implications of the research papers assembled in this volume are highly relevant to the broader Caucasus region and other post-Communist countries. The contributions deal with central issues pertinent to Georgian public policy, administration, and politics, as well as to Georgia¿s ongoing struggle for independence and democracy. The collection illustrates a particularly revealing case in the comparative study of modern governance.

The editors: Dr. Tima T. Moldogaziev is Associate Professor of Public Policy at Pennsylvania State University. He is co-author of, among others, Information Resolution and Subnational Capital Finance (Oxford UP 2021) and State and Local Financial Instruments: Policy Changes and Management, 2nd edn (Edward Elgar 2021). Dr. Gene A. Brewer is Professor of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Georgia. His books include Public Management and Performance (Cambridge UP 2012), Managing for Public Service Performance (Oxford UP 2020), and The Replication of Experimental Social Science Research (Routledge 2021). Dr. J. Edward Kellough is Professor of Public Administration at the University of Georgia. His books include The New Public Personnel Administration (Cengage Learning 2014), Understanding Affirmative Action (Georgetown UP 2007), Civil Service Reform in the States (SUNY Press 2006), and Federal Equal Employment Opportunity and Numerical Goals and Timetables (Praeger 1989). The author of the foreword: Dr. Dan Durning is Emeritus Professor of Public Administration at the University of Georgia.