Since coming to power, President Saakashvili has implemented a loud – and at times violent – war against smuggling and corruption. Sixteen Georgian soldiers and an unknown number of South Ossetians died over the summer after an operation to close the Ergneti black market in the separatist region led to clashes with the local population. Although there have been reports that the crackdown reduced the amount of contraband coming into the country, it obviously did not stop the problem. The fact that people in the region are still willing to trade in smuggled goods after people gave their lives to stop the flow of contraband seems to give weight to the theory that, after decades of corruption, Georgians have little respect for the law. In fact, when a regional chief of police is arrested for smuggling, there is little motivation for the average Georgian to heed the government’s warnings and follow the letter of the law, especially if few other options are present.

According to an article published in the Georgian newspaper 24 Hours, 250 regional police officers in Shida Kartli have been arrested for ties to smuggling operations in this year alone. While such figures show that the problem is epidemic, they also underline the role smuggling plays in the local economy. When police seized smuggled cigarettes and other goods from people near the Georgia/Azerbaijan border earlier this year, a massive riot broke out. No matter how quickly laws are passed in Tbilisi, they don’t change the simple fact that for average Georgians, smuggling and corruption is how they live and take care of their families.

Government officials outside of the capital are also not setting a particularly good example. Even after the arrests in Gori, Georgians in other regions continued to try and work the system. Days after that scandal broke, Saakashvili called all regional governors to Tbilisi for a meeting. To fulfill a pledge he made promising every family living in the regions 20 liters of diesel fuel from the government, he asked each governor for a list of families in his region. In response he received inflated population lists from the regional governors. During the televised meeting, he ordered each governor to provide an accurate figure for his region’s population. The president went on to say he would personally oversee the manner the diesel was distributed to guarantee nothing was ‘saved’ for later sales. The fact that the president himself has to threaten governors into providing accurate data proves that Georgians are not only not mentally ready to live without corruption and the black market, but are also not yet afraid of the law.

One disturbing aspect of the Gori scandal is the fact that the governor of the region, Mikheil Kareli, was appointed to the position by Saakashvili himself. While there is no proof that Kareli is guilty of smuggling or that he even knew about the trade, if it was actively taking place without his knowledge that does not inspire confidence in the level of attention government appointees are paying to dictates from Tbilisi. Regardless of how much emphasis Saakashvili himself places on the need to eradicate smuggling and corruption, the incident in Shida Kartli proves that without the active assistance and intervention of his administration, his policies will not be successful.