A monocrat’s hobby and its power: on shadow politics in Georgia

ABSTRACT This article discusses how shadow politics is enacted in Georgia with shadow actors setting the agenda from the political backstage. It conceptualizes acting “along with the state” as a novel form of informality, to describe a situation when state regulations are in place and shadow actors try to “correspond” to such regulations not through adapting their actions but making the state adapt to their needs via modifying formal rules. Such an enactment of shadow politics is demonstrated based on two recent environmental cases. The paper describes how, on the one hand, a shadow actor strategically uses his both visible and invisible power for informal land appropriation and construction, as well as the purchase and transportation of century-old trees, while on the other hand, authorities challenge environmental NGOs and activists resisting his “hobby” by politicizing their protest actions.