Unravelling rights: gender and autocratization in Georgia

This article examines how gender politics operate within processes of autocratization through a qualitative study of Georgia. Drawing on legislation, parliamentary materials, government discourse, civil society documentation, and international monitoring reports, we trace the legal, institutional, and discursive transformation of gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights under the Georgian Dream government. We argue that the dismantling of equality protections is not merely a consequence of democratic regression but forms part of the broader restructuring of political authority, participation, and institutional oversight. The Georgian case demonstrates how reforms previously associated with European integration have become objects of political contestation, institutional rollback, and discursive reframing as foreign or incompatible with national identity and traditional values. These developments contribute to a broader process of normative de-alignment from democratic and equality commitments associated with European integration. By tracing the relationship between anti-gender politics, institutional restructuring, boundary-making and the narrowing of political inclusion, the article contributes to scholarship on gender and autocratization by demonstrating how changes in the political function of gender equality can become intertwined with broader processes of autocratic consolidation.