The Color Revolutions
How democratic uprisings swept through Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan in the early 2000s, and why Moscow saw them as an existential threat.
Georgia's Rose Revolution (2003)
The wave began in Georgia. In November 2003, parliamentary elections were marred by widespread fraud in favor of President Eduard Shevardnadze's party. Shevardnadze, the former Soviet foreign minister who had helped end the Cold War, had governed Georgia since 1995 but had presided over a corrupt and stagnating state.
A young, Western-educated lawyer named Mikheil Saakashvili led mass protests. When Shevardnadze attempted to open the new parliament based on the fraudulent results, Saakashvili and his supporters stormed the building carrying roses — giving the revolution its name. Shevardnadze resigned. Saakashvili won the subsequent presidential election with 96% of the vote.
The Rose Revolution was celebrated in the West as a triumph of people power. Saakashvili implemented ambitious reforms: he eliminated petty corruption in the police force, modernized infrastructure, and oriented Georgia firmly toward NATO and the EU. But his presidency also featured authoritarian tendencies — crackdowns on protesters in 2007, concentration of power in the executive, and a reckless decision to attack the breakaway region of South Ossetia in 2008 that triggered a brief war with Russia.