POLITICAL REGIMES OF THE COUNTRIES OF THE SOUTH CAUCASUS

Abstract

The article highlights the peculiarities of the formation and functioning of political regimes in the countries of the South Caucasus. The formation of the political regimes of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia since the declaration of independence of these countries, as well as the trends of the political life of these countries, which influenced the formation of these regimes, and the characteristic features of each of them, which made it possible to determine their types, were considered. It was found that there is a fairly stable authoritarian regime in Azerbaijan, and hybrid regimes in Georgia and Armenia. At the same time, in recent years, the hybrid regime in Armenia has shown a tendency to improve democratic indicators, and in Georgia, on the contrary, to a deterioration. It was revealed that in Georgia and Armenia, the change of power to a more democratic one took place as a result of revolutions. Both countries are parliamentary republics with dominant political parties. Violations of human and citizen rights and freedoms, problems with freedom of speech, influence of oligarchic structures on the government, fragmented opposition, persecution of opposition politicians and parties, problems in the judicial branch of government, and corruption are still taking place in Georgia. Public protests are frequent in Armenia, and there are problems with competitive and transparent elections, freedom of speech, political influence on the judiciary, and corruption. It was established that an authoritarian regime was formed in Azerbaijan under the leadership of the Aliyev family, where power is concentrated in the hands of one family and a group of people close to it. The opposition in the country is under constant pressure and there are no fair, competitive elections.