Laura Thornton from McCain Institute says economic crisis in Georgia necessary for protest to succeed

Laura Thornton, the Senior Director for Global Democracy Programmes at the McCain Institute, on Wednesday said an economic crisis in Georgia was necessary for the protest to succeed and for cracks to emerge within the Government.

In an article titled “How can the protesters win?” for Civil.ge, Thornton noted that success was usually determined by internal, not external pressures.

“There is no clear roadmap, and ingredients are varied and sometimes random. Often, pre existing cracks or conflicts within the ruling leadership or economic indicators make a regime vulnerable”, she said.

Thornton further highlighted that sometimes, the most overwhelming and innovative movements – like the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong – still failed against a simply impenetrable giant.

“But success is usually determined by internal, not external, pressures. The fiercest of international responses - sanctions, lack of recognition, embargoes - are not the decisive factor (Venezuela, exhibit A)”, she concluded.