After [Eduard Shevardnadze]'s 11 years in power, the country was transformed from one of the richest Soviet republics into one of the most impoverished nations in the region. Twenty percent of Georgia's population, among them many highly trained specialists, have left for better opportunities abroad. Although there were many reasons for Georgia's precipitous economic and social decline, including civil conflict and the transformation from a Soviet planned economy to a market-based one, corruption made the experience all the more painful. The last straw came four weeks ago, when efforts by Georgian officials to rig the parliamentary elections became a catalyst for a population humiliated, tired and impoverished by more than a decade of Shevardnadze's rule.

The urgency with which Georgia's new leadership must address these issues -- as well as the risk to it in doing so -- is underscored by comparing Georgia's experience with Serbia's. The popular protests that led to Slobodan Milosevic's ouster were studied by Georgia's opposition. One hopes, however, that Georgia's future leaders will avoid the fate of the late Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. Unable to fully root out corruption among Serbia's security services and members of Milosevic's inner circle, Djindjic fell victim to an assassination ordered by organized crime figures who had profited under Milosevic. Criminal forces within Serbia felt threatened by Djindjic's efforts toward reform.

Shevardnadze has been widely praised of late -- and rightfully so -- for his role in negotiating a peaceful end of the Cold War as Soviet foreign minister under Mikhail Gorbachev. As Georgia's president, however, he had grown remarkably ineffective. Although he brought a modicum of stability when he assumed office in the early 1990s, in recent years he had become beholden to the corrupt members of his inner circle who were instrumental in his rise to the presidency. It is important to remember that when Shevardnadze returned to Georgia in 1992, he did so partially at the invitation of Dzhaba Ioseliani, a major organized crime figure who was head of a notorious paramilitary organization, the Mkhedrioni (the horsemen).