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Across most of the former Soviet space, governments have changed a great deal since the days of the USSR, yet still resemble the Stalinist (and later Soviet) regime in that they concentrate power in the hands of a single man. In Georgia, the government’s actions reveal a pattern of efforts to cut down all competing, open centers of power to the greatest extent possible under any given set of circumstances. The central problems now blocking democracy in Georgia and other parts of the former USSR are: 1) the use of power in order to gain wealth; 2) the absence of the rule of law; and 3) the passivity of citizens.