The role of soft power actors in the rose revolution in Georgia

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the role of soft power actors in
the preparation and implementation of the Rose revolution in Georgia. The
relevance of the study lies in the need to analyze the destructive activities
of these structures during the color revolutions in order to prevent such
negative scenarios in the Russian Federation and friendly states. The paper
analyzes the activities of two soft power actors who made a decisive contribution to the overthrow of the Shevardnadze regime — the “Rustavi-2” TV
company and the “Kmara” youth organization. Such issues as the history of
the creation of “Rustavi-2” and “Kmara”, the specifics of their tactics and
strategies in the preparation of the Rose revolution, direct participation in
the coup détat in November 2003 are considered. The authors conclude
that “Rustavi-2” and “Kmara” played a key role in mobilizing the protest
electorate, and also managed to introduce into the public consciousness of
Georgian citizens the thesis of falsification of the results of parliamentary
elections, which eventually became the trigger for the beginning of the active
phase of the Rose revolution, which ended with the victory of the political
opposition led by M. Saakashvili.