Rose Revolution in the context of "Nonviolent revolution"

The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia, was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the Russian-backed separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The fighting took place in the strategically important South Caucasus region. It is regarded as the first European war of the 21st century.

Georgia declared its independence from the Soviet Union in April 1991, following a referendum during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. However, fighting (1991–92) between Georgia and Ossetian separatists resulted in parts of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast being under the de facto control of Russian-backed but internationally unrecognised separatists. In 1992, a joint peacekeeping force of Georgian, Russian, and Ossetian troops was stationed in the territory. A similar stalemate developed in the region of Abkhazia, where the separatists had waged a war in 1992–1993, culminating in the ethnic cleansing of Georgians. Following the election of Vladimir Putin in Russia in 2000 and a pro-Western change of power in Georgia in 2003, relations between Russia and Georgia began to severely deteriorate, reaching a full diplomatic crisis by April 2008.

Though tensions had existed between Georgia and Russia for years and more intensively since the Rose Revolution, an international diplomatic crisis escalated in the spring of 2008, namely after Russia announced in response to the Western recognition of the independence of Kosovo that it would no longer participate in the Commonwealth of Independent States economic sanctions imposed on Abkhazia in 1996 and established direct relations with the separatist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The crisis was also linked to the Georgian attempts to gain a NATO Membership Action Plan at the 2008 Bucharest Summit.

Until the end of June much of the conflict between Russia and Georgia was concentrated in Abkhazia, as were both Georgian and international efforts to negotiate a peace settlement. In early July the theater had moved to South Ossetia, where skirmishes between Ossetian militias and Georgian troops turned deadly on 3 July following the attempted assassination of pro-Georgian president of South Ossetia Dmitry Sanakoyev. The conflict led to a full-scale invasion of Georgia by Russia.

Mikheil "Misha" Saakashvili (born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian-Ukrainian politician. He was the third president of Georgia for two consecutive terms from January 2004 to November 2013, with a break from November 2007 to January 2008 after he stepped down following anti-government demonstrations and ahead of an early presidential election. He is the founder and former chairman of Georgia's United National Movement party. From May 2015 until November 2016, Saakashvili was the governor of Ukraine's Odesa Oblast.

A jurist by occupation, Saakashvili entered Georgian politics in 1995 as a member of Parliament and Minister of Justice under President Eduard Shevardnadze. He then founded the opposition United National Movement party. In 2003, as a leading opposition figure, he accused the government of rigging the 2003 Georgian parliamentary election, triggering mass street protests and President Shevardnadze's ouster in the bloodless Rose Revolution. Saakashvili's key role in the protests led to his election as president in 2004. He was reelected in 2008. However, his party lost the 2012 Georgian parliamentary election. Term limits meant he could not stand again, and an opposition candidate, nominated by Bidzina Ivanishvili and Coalition Georgian Dream, Giorgi Margvelashvili, won the 2013 presidential election.

Parliamentary elections were held in Georgia on 2 November 2003 alongside a constitutional referendum. According to statistics released by the Georgian Election Commission, the elections were won by a combination of parties supporting President Eduard Shevardnadze.

However, the results were annulled by the Georgia Supreme Court after the Rose Revolution on 23 November, following allegations of widespread electoral fraud and large public protests which led to the resignation of Shevardnadze. Fresh elections were held on 28 March 2004.

Nino Burjanadze (/niːˈnoʊ bɜːrdʒəˈnɑːdzeɪ/; Georgian: ნინო ბურჯანაძე [nino buɾdʒanadze]; born 16 July 1964) is a Georgian politician and lawyer who served as Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia from November 2001 to June 2008. As the first woman, she served as the acting head of state of Georgia twice; the first time from 23 November 2003 to 25 January 2004 in the wake of Eduard Shevardnadze's resignation during the Rose Revolution, and again from 25 November 2007 to 20 January 2008, after Mikheil Saakashvili stepped down to run in the early presidential election. She withdrew into opposition to Saakashvili as the leader of the Democratic Movement – United Georgia party in 2008. In 2013, she ran in the presidential election, competing against 22 candidates; she ended third with 10 percent of the vote.

The United National Movement (UNM; Georgian: ერთიანი ნაციონალური მოძრაობა, romanized: ertiani natsionaluri modzraoba), is a liberal-conservative political party in Georgia. Tina Bokuchava serves as the party's chairman, while its honorary chairman Mikheil Saakashvili is considered the de facto leader. The UNM's electoral number is 5.

The UNM was founded by Saakashvili in 2001, in opposition to Eduard Shevardnadze's government, rising to power following the Rose Revolution in 2003. During its nine-year rule, the UNM implemented several major reforms. The government focused on rooting out corruption and crime, establishing a free market economy, pursuing a pro-Western foreign policy, and regaining territorial integrity. The latter two put it in direct conflict with Russia exploding into a full-on war in 2008 that resulted in 20% of Georgia's territory being occupied by Russia to this day.